Petitioning Guidelines

How to collect signatures on independent nominating petitions.

Petitioning Requirements

A summary of the legal requirements applicable to collecting signatures on independent nominating petitions in New York.

Petitioning Script Doc

Suggested responses to questions commonly asked of petitioners.

Darin Robbins is our 2010 Steuben County petition coordinator and Michael O'Neil is our 2010 NYS petition coordinator.

Please contact them at (607)-936-3294 or ( 917) 825-3562, if you have any questions about petitioning or where to send the signatures you have collected.

Petitioning Do's and Don'ts

Based on a petitioning guide from Howie Hawkins

The first set of do's and don'ts deals with the legalities and technicalities of collecting and witnessing petition signatures. The second set that follows deals with pointers on collecting signatures.

LEGALITIES AND TECHNICALITIES

DON'T BREAK THE LAW: Make sure you witness each signature that you sign the witness statement for at the bottom of the petition sheet. Do not sign a witness statement if you did not see the signatures made. If you petition with someone who is not eligible to witness because, for example, they are too young to be registered, you can witness the signatures on the petitions they carry if you see the signatures made. That way both of you can go out together to collect signatures. But do it properly. It is a crime to sign a witness statement for signatures you did not witness, as well as to forge signatures.

PETITIONING PERIOD: The petitioning period is Tuesday, July 6, 2010 to Tuesday, August 17, 2010.

WHERE TO SEND COMPLETED PETITIONS: Mail to the NYS Green Party Petition Coordinator, Michael O'Neil. Email Michael at for his address.

WHEN AND HOW TO SEND COMPLETED PETITIONS: Send original petitions as you complete them so they don't get lost, eaten by the dog, etc. Photocopy them first and keep the copy so you can use them for voter canvassing in September and October. Send the originals to the candidate at the address listed on the petition.

KEEP PETITIONS AS NEAT AND CLEAN AS POSSIBLE

DON'T ALTER THE PETITIONS: The petitions may be photocopied. However, they cannot be altered in any way: don't change the order of candidates, alter the emblem, correct typos, etc.

USE A BLACK INK PEN: Use a pen with black ink. Dark blue ink is second best. Do Not use pencils. Other color ink is technically legal, but other colors do not photocopy clearly.

USE A CLIPBOARD: Use a clipboard so the petitions don't get torn and messy. Use a legal-sized clipboard if the petitions are legal-sized. Cheap clipboards can be found at office supply stores like Staples, Office Max, etc.

SIGNATURE REQUIRED: The person signing the petition is only required to put their signature on the petition. The address and printed name may be filled in by the witness. As a witness, you may want to fill in the printed name and address when you are going door to door with a street list of registered voters (See STREET VS. DOOR-TO-DOOR PETITIONING below about street lists) for the sake of neatness and correctness. You may also want to print in the other information when petitioning on the street with people who tell you their handwriting is bad or they have difficulty writing due to arthritis, etc. But these signers must still do their own signature.

SIGNATURE DATES: The Date should be entered by the signer or the witness at the time the signature is entered. Use numbers, as in 7/8 for July 8 in the space provided. The year is already entered. It is a good idea to fill out the date before handing it to the signer.

ORDER OF SIGNATURE DATES: You must keep the dates sequential down the petition sheet. If later dates appear before earlier dates, the whole sheet will be challenged.

WITNESS DATES: You must date your witness statement on or after the day of the last signature on each petition sheet. Otherwise, all signatures dated after the witness date are invalid.

WHO MAY SIGN?: Any person who is registered to vote in New York State may sign the petition unless that person has signed another independent nominating petition for the same office this year.

SIGNATURES BY NEWLY REGISTERED VOTERS: Any voter who registers to vote during the petitioning period may sign the petition on the day of or after their county Board of Elections has date-stamped their registration form.

NAME: Tell signers to use the name they used to register to vote. Tell them to be careful of middle names or initials, suffixes (Sr., Jr., III, etc.), and maiden vs. married name. Prefixes such as Mrs. are not needed. The full name is. For example, ask Mary L. Jones who woman who signed as Mrs. Jones to resign as Mary L. Jones. If they can't remember clearly what name they registered with the Board of Elections, just ask them to make their best guess.

RESIDENCE: The voter must put down the residence address they gave the Board of Elections when they registered to vote. P.O. Boxes are not acceptable with the Board of Elections or on the petition (although some voters will insist incorrectly that is all the Board of Elections has for them). If the signer has a RR number, ask them to also put down the street address. Some stubborn voters will only give you a P.O. Box or RR number. You will have to look up their address with the street list you get from the Board of Elections (for street lists, see STREET VS. DOOR-TO-DOOR PETITIONING below).

TOWN OR CITY, OR COUNTY IN NEW YORK CITY:
Be careful here.
Outside New York City: This refers to the governmental jurisdiction in which the signer lives, not their mailing or street address. People often fill in the wrong town because they confuse their town with the village they live in or with the village or city that they use for their mailing address. Asking in which jurisdiction they vote or pay property taxes (not school taxes) may clarify things. Check the Town or City filled in by the signer against your street index when you get ready to witness those sheets.
In New York City: In the five boroughs of New York City, the correct county must be filled in here. Not the borough, but the county—New York County, not Manhattan; Kings County, not Brooklyn; Richmond County, not Staten Island.

WHO MAY WITNESS?: Anyone who is a duly qualified voter in the State of New York may witness an independent nominating petition. That is, any voter in any party or no party who is registered to vote in New York State at the time they witness and who has not signed for another candidate for the same office or offices. The applicable provision of the New York Election Law was amended by the state legislature in 2009 to conform with the decision and order entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Chou v. New York State Board of Elections, 332 F. Supp. 2d 510 (2004), which held that the requirement that the witness to an independent nominating petition be a resident of the political subdivision wherein the candidate is seeking election is unconstitutional.

DO NOT SIGN A PETITION THAT YOU ARE WITNESSING: You can't be a witness for your own signature. If you witness you own signature, your signature will be invalidated.

HOW TO FILL IN THE WITNESS STATEMENT:

1. Cross out any mistakes on the petition sheet with a single line and initial the line at both ends -- the witness's initials, not the the signer's initials!

2. Fill in your residence address as the Board of Elections has you listed. You do not need to add your PO Box if you have one because the purpose here is to establish your residency in New York. You do not need to add New York as it is already printed on the form. All petition collectors should check with their county Board of Elections to make sure they have the correct residence for you. If you give a different address than what they have for you, all the signatures you witness will be invalidated.

3. Fill in the correct number of valid signatures on the petition sheet. If you count wrong, the whole sheet will be challenged.

4. Date and sign where provided in the form. Make sure the date is on or after the date of the last signature on the sheet.

5. Fill in your Town or City and County. Be careful with the Town or City. This is the town or city you live in, which may be different then the village you live in or your mailing address. If in doubt, check with your county Board of Elections.

Be careful to fill every part of the form in correctly. If you don't, all the work you did collecting the signatures will be invalidated.

Don't fill out the witness statement until the petition sheet is completed. (If you only got, say, 7 signatures on the sheet which holds 10 signatures and want to turn it in, go ahead and fill out the witness statement. Then start collecting more signatures with a new sheet.)

Don't wait to fill out the witness statements. Fill them out at the end of each day for the sheets you complete that day.

HOW TO CORRECT MISTAKES ON THE PETITION: You can count on signers making mistakes: wrong addresses, married instead of maiden names or vice versa, wrong date, etc. The witness should cross out any mistakes on the petition sheet with a single line and initial both ends of the line -- the witness's initials, not the the signer's initials!

NEVER USE WHITE OUT ON A PETITION: It invalidates the whole sheet.

DO NOT NUMBER THE PETITION SHEETS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE: These will be filled in when the petitions are assembled and bound for submission to the Board of Elections.

FILLING IN CITY OR TOWN ON THE SIGNATURE FORM: Be careful with the City or Town part of the signature forms. In many cases, a person's City or Town is different than their mailing address. The town or city required on the form is the jurisdiction in which a signer votes or pays property taxes. If someone is not certain the name of that jurisdiction, you will have to look up their residence in your county Board of Elections' street index, which will give that information for each registered voter. The street list is public information and must be provided to you. The county Board of Elections may charge a "reasonable" fee. If they give it to the Democrats and Republicans for free, they must also give it to you for free. Act as an official representative of the Green Party in making such a request to your county Board of Elections.

POINTERS ON COLLECTING SIGNATURES

START NOW, DON'T WAIT: The close of the petitioning period will be here before you know it. Start collecting signatures today. Try to go out for a period every day from now on. If you wait, you may run into a string of rainy days or miserably hot and humid days later on. Consistently going out for some time every day possible will be a lot less stressful than trying to do it in a fewer number of long days out on the streets. Carry your petitions where ever you go and ask every acquaitance you see to sign.

APPROACHING VOTERS:
Be brief, positive, friendly, and to the point. It's best to get right to the point, for example, "We need 500 signatures on our petition to put _____ on the ballot as a Green Party candidate for __________. Will you sign?"
What you say and do next depends on the response. If they say "I'm a Democrat (or Republican)" you can say, "That's OK. Signing doesn't commit you to voting for_____. It doesn't change your party enrollment. It just gets their name on the ballot."
Other useful brief responses:
- "It just gives people more options on election day."
- "It is just giving __________ a chance to run."
- "It's about democracy and letting voters have more options."

KEEP ASKING FOR SIGNATURES -- DON'T TAKE REJECTIONS PERSONALLY:
You may have to ask 3, 5, or 10 times for every signature you get.
You may hit a dry spell where you have to ask 30 times before someone signs. Later you may get 5 or 10 signers in a row.
Just keep asking and don't let rejections get you down.
Have patience and persistence. Keep asking for signatures.
Expect occassional hostile responses
Just smile about the occassional insult hurled your way.
You'll just as often get encouragement from another voter.
Resist the temptation to argue back at the insulters. Just ask the next voter for a signature.

YOU REPRESENT THE CANDIDATE AND THE GREEN PARTY—DRESS AND ACT APPROPRIATELY

EDUCATE VOTERS AFTER THEY SIGN (OR DON'T SIGN):
Avoid giving them a flyer about the candidate before they sign or refuse to sign. Otherwise, they'll often say, "Let me read this first. Maybe I'll sign next time," and you'll never see them again.
You should, however, give them a flyer after they either sign or don't sign. Get the flyer from the candidate. It's easier to handle your clipboard if you have one sheet to hand them for all the candidates you are carrying petitions for.

AVOID LONG POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS: Your goal right now is to get as many signatures as possible. Some people may want to engage you in a long political discussion. Politely tell them that we need to get ____ good signatures in five weeks and you would be happy to continue the discussion after the petitioning period is over.

RECRUIT VOLUNTEERS: Some signers will be particularly supportive. Ask them to help by collecting signatures, making a campaign contribution, hosting a house meeting, joining your Green local, whatever seems appropriate for them.

STREET VS. DOOR-TO-DOOR PETITIONING:
You can collect signatures at a public place from passers by, or you can go door-to-door with a street list of voters. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages
Street Petitioning: At a good spot in a public place, you can collect as many as 20 or 30 signatures an hour. The disadvantage is that the proportion of invalid signatures from people who are not actually registered is often half of the signatures or more. It is also not possible to look up their Town or City on your county's street index (or guide or finder) if they are from another county.
Finding good public places can be a challenge. Private supermarkets and malls do not have to let you petition in their parking lots. You can either ask the manager for permission, or petition until they ask you to leave. Post offices also do not have to let you petition in their parking lots. The sidewalks in front of post offices are public, but sometimes the post offices will ask you to leave there, too. Don't make a federal case if they do ask you to leave the sidewalk. We need you out petitioning, not dealing with the courts. Just find another place to petition.
Outside concerts, street fairs, political events, county fairs, and so forth are often good spots for street petitioning. Check the papers for events in your area.
Door to Door Petitioning: Depending on the time of day and the neighborhood, door to door petitioning will yield 5 to 10 signatures an hour. It's slower than street petitioning because you have to ring the bell or knock and wait for someone to answer (or not). The advantage is that you will know they are good signatures if you use a street list of voters from your county Board of Elections. The street lists list voters sequentially by street and number, so you can use the list to go down the street only knocking on doors with registered voters. You can also tell by the lists the age, party affiliation, and voting frequency of the registered voters. After you've been petitioning for a while, you will get a sense of who is signing, for example, independent female voters under 40, and you can emphasize those voters to get a higher yield for the time you spend knocking on doors. You don't have to use a street list to go door-to-door. You will still get a higher percentage of good signatures than street petitioning. But using a street list is better if you can.
Street Lists: The Steuben Greens have obtained a street list for Steuben County from the Steuben County Board of Elections. The street list is public information and is provided for a copying charge to anyone who requests.
Do both Street and Door-To-Door Petitioning: For most petitioners, it will probably be best to do both street and door-to-door petitioning. For example, hit the streets during the afternoon when people are out and about and knock on doors between 5 pm and 9 pm when people are more likely to be home.
In smaller cities and towns, where housing is relatively compact and doors are accessible, you will want to do a good portion of door-to-door knocking to get good signatures.

SET GOALS:
Each petitioner should set personal daily, weekly, and five week petition goals. To give you an example, if you commit to going out two nights a week for three hours door-to-door and average 7 signatures an hour, you should collect 20 signatures each night. If you also commit to spending 2 hours two days a week street petitioning and average 15 signatures an hour, you should collect 30 signatures a day. A week of this level of petitioning should yield 100 signatures ( 20 x 2 nights door-to-door, plus 30 x 2 days street petitioning). In five weeks at this level, you should collect 500 signatures.
Others of you will only be able to commit to 25 or 50 signatures a week. Everybody should make a realistic commitment given their circumstances and then meet those goals.

PETITION IN GROUPS: It helps to get yourself out there petitioning and meeting your goals if you go out with one or more other petitioners. You can encourage each other, have a little friendly competition for the most signatures, and even manage to have a good time petitioning. But don't let the lack someone to go petitioning with on a day when you can petition be an excuse for procrastinating. Do it yourself that day and then try to get help the next day.

KEEP TRACK OF WHO HAS PETITION SHEETS OUT: When you recruit petitioners, keep track of who has petitions and stay in touch with them. Petitions that are not turned in do not count.

DON'T GIVE YOUR PETITION CLIPBOARD AWAY: People sometimes say they want to take the clipboard into the house to have their spouse, friends, etc. sign the petition, or say they want to take it to sit down and read it, or the phone is ringing, etc. It is not a good idea to give them you clipboard. They could put it on a table and spill a drink on it. Or they could really oppose the candidate being on the ballot and start crossing out names, rip it up, etc. Explain politely that you can't let the petition out of your sight or your witness statement will be illegal, and that you would be glad to come in. It is better to lose one signature than several pages of signatures.

WHEN IN DOUBT, HAVE THEM SIGN: Some people won't remember if they are registered to vote, or the address at which they are registered to vote. If they are in doubt, have them sign. The names can be checked later against the lists of registered voters.

VOTER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PETITION: Some people will read the whole petition before they sign. Click here for an RTF document with some answers to commonly asked questions.

In the case of statewide candidates, the political unit referred to in the phrase "a registered voter of the political unit for which nominations for public offices are being made," is New York State.

The committee to fill vacancies is a legal requirement. The comnittee would meet to select a replacement if a candidates dies or declines the nomination.

You may inadvertently collect some signatures from outside the district. The team cleaning petitions will be checking the Town or City part of the signature form using the list of registered voters for the district.

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