Turning in Election Petitions For a Reelection Campaign
Not everyone can sign a petition to get a candidate on the ballot for a reelection campaign. Generally, the signer must be a registered voter, and usually must be of the same political party as the candidate, and only Independents can sign Independent candidates’ petitions.
In some states, however, anybody can sign regardless of party affiliation. The signer almost always has to be a resident of that voting district, i.e., live in the same ward, town, county, etc., that the candidate is running in.
Illegible signatures are often not counted for the reelection campaign, not because of any nefarious politicking, but simply because the signature cannot be read. Ask the signers to write clearly.
There is no end to the things that can invalidate a signature or petition, so the best thing is to get more names on the reelection campaign petition than you actually need. The general rule of thumb is three to one. If you need one hundred valid names, file petitions containing three hundred names. But even that can get you into trouble, because most states have a maximum number of names that a candidate can submit.
The validators at the Board of Elections do not have the time to search through a petition with one hundred signatures to just find one or two valid names, so limiting the names or part petitions to be filed makes sense.
This too is a reasonable restriction that is subverted when carried to extremes. You would think that if a candidate filed more than the maximum, they could just look at the maximum number and not look at the extra names. Instead, they invalidate the entire petition, so the rule of thumb of 3 to 1 becomes 2.9 to 1, to avoid that trap.
Visit Killer Campaigning to learn more about how to run a reelection campaign.
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