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2008 Petitioning Effort

• 2008 Presidential/VP Ballot Access Petitions
  
If electronic versions of the petition are unavailable, please email eb4gp1@iowatelecom.net with your name and address to have copies of the petitions mailed to you.

Petitioning Facts

• Candidates that are not nominees of officially recognized parties normally get their candidates onto the November general election ballot by circulating petitions.
  
  
• Candidates for statewide office must collect signatures from 1,500 eligible voters. At least 10 different counties have to be represented.
  
  
• The filing is due in Des Moines, at the Secretary of State's office, by the published filing deadline date.
  
  
• To be valid, a signer must be an Iowa resident at least 18 years old on the date the signature is given and who has not lost voting rights due to felony conviction or other reason. It is not necessary to be a registered voter.
  
  
• Anyone can collect signatures.
  
  
• Signatures must be in ink. Any color.
  
  
• All columns of the petition must be filled in. However, if someone skips the date column, you can fill that in yourself.
  
  
• You can make additional copies of the petition, but the petition sheet must be letter sized pages, that is, 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches.
  
  
• Mail petition sheets to:
  Ed Wright
  1796 Hwy 25 North
  Guthrie Center, IA 50115
  

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Petitioning Tips

The first thing to understand about petitioning is that it has nothing to do with making converts or winning votes. The single purpose is to ask as many people as quickly as possible. Consequently, the first goal of petitioning is to find a place with a lot of people on foot. Petitioning people going into sports events provides a steady stream of foot traffic in a relatively short time. When the weather improves, petitioning spectators at children's baseball or soccer games works well. Mostly you need to make sure you're on public property (and avoid blocking traffic, for instance) or that you have the property owner/manager's advance permission (I've had great success petitioning in front of a grocery store).

Next, you need to keep your pitch short. Here's a text I've typically used - "Hi. I'm hoping you can help me out. This is a petition to put an independent candidate for governor on the ballot in November. Signing doesn't mean you'll vote for the candidate or support him in any way, it only helps get his name on the ballot. Can you help out?" Don't say anything else. Accept whatever decision they make with "thank you" and be ready to move on to the next signer.

Try not to get into conversation with anyone because it distracts you from the next potential signer. If they seem concerned about getting on a mailing list, you can safely guarantee them they won't. If they want information, ask them to sign and you'll put a mark by their name so you'll know to have information mailed to them later (make sure you follow up on this).

A clipboard is required equipment. They're inexpensive at office supply stores. In fact, it's a good idea to buy two. When you're petitioning (unless you're going door-to-door, which is a whole other thing), you'll frequently encounter groups. If one person in a group agrees to sign, often "peer pressure" will work to get others to sign as well, but these people aren't likely to wait their turn to sign. I've been in situations where three or four clipboards were being signed simultaneously within one group that was then quickly able to get on their way.

If you do decide on door-to-door petitioning, try to go between 4pm and 7pm on a weekday (I know, it's suppertime; actually, people mostly don't seem to mind that much). Pick a place where the houses are fairly close together. And change your "pitch" slightly by starting off with "Hi, my name's Joe Smith and I'm hoping you can help me out." They won't remember your name but the fact that you've offered it makes it personal and they're somewhat more willing to help.