Petition Review Guidelines

2016 Primary

Overview

November 14th – First Day for all candidates for public office or County Chair to file.

December 14th at 6pm – Last Day to file for all offices.

Must be filed with proper authority:

RPT – More than one county

County Chair – Office sought is wholly within county

Must be reviewed within 5 days of receipt.

The same level of scrutiny should be applied to each petition page.

Cannot be filed in parts; must file all at one time.

Overview

Petitions may be submitted only during filing period, November 14th to December 14th at 6 pm.

A petition must submitted at the same time as the application.

Not required to accept/reject an application and petition pages until the fifth (5th) day AFTER receiving but review as soon as practical. (TEC 141.032b).

Petitions cannot be amended after the December 14th 6 pm filing deadline.

Nominating Petition

Each office has different thresholds for the number of signatures required for the nominating petition.

o Signatures must be from registered voters within the same district in which the candidate is filing to run.

o A voter may only sign one petition per candidate in each office.

o Signer that sign for Republican candidate must vote in the Republican Primary.

It is a Class C Misdemeanor if a voters sign a nominating petition for a candidate in one party and votes in the other party’s primary or party convention (172.026) & (162.024)

It is ESSENTIAL that the candidate check and double check the petition to ensure the signatures are qualified voters in his/her district and avoid disqualification.

Nominating Petition

If the candidate fails to obtain the required number of registered voters within his/her district – application is REJECTED.

Check to make sure that the following info is the SAME on each page of the petition & the ballot application; if they are not the same – application is REJECTED.

oName

oOffice Sought

o Place/Precinct

Petition Review Guidelines will be addressed in a separate training at a later date.

Rejected Applications & Petitions

If incorrect or incomplete, the application and petitions may be rejected by the County Chair as not properly filed.

Notice of rejection must be provided in written form. An email is considered “written form.”

Must notify candidate immediately.

Suggest calling the candidate as well.

Sample rejection letter will be posted on the Exclusive Content section of the RPT Website.

Petition Review

Do NOT write on the petition pages during the review process. o The reviewer should NEVER write on the original petitions

pages You can make a copy and write on the copy for your review. If anyone makes a request for copies, you will copy the original

petition pages.

Remember, this is a legal document that has already been notarized.

Making any correction is considered tampering with a government document.

Reminder Do not “fill in” any blanks. Do not add any missing info to any petition. Not required to be the most current version.

Petition Review

Information at top lefto Current revision for Petition in Lieu of Filing Fee 07/2015

Not required to be the most current version.

Petition Review

Information at top righto First & Last name of circulator

Not necessarily required IF the name is written in the affidavit section.

o Pages should be numbered and grouped by circulator.

If pages are grouped and numbered by circulator, then only first or last page must be notarized.

Petition Review

The top of EVERY page must include the following:o 1. Candidate’s Name

o 2. Office Sought, including any distingue number (Sec. 172.027)

o 3. “Republican”

Petition Review (Spanish)

Spanish Sectiono Not required as long as the English section is completed.

The top of EVERY page must include the following:o 1. Candidate’s Name

o 2. Office Sought, including any distinguishing number

o 3. “Republicano”

Petition Review

Information required on every signature line: (Sec. 141.063)

o Date Signed

o Signature

MUST be the signer’s OWN WRITING

o Printed Name

Petition Review

Information required on every signature line: (Sec. 141.063)

o Street Address and city

Ok to use ditto marks (“ “)

o County required only if office is a multi-county district.

Anyone filing with the County Party should NOT be filing for a multi county district; those candidates file with the State Party.

Petition Review

Information required on every signature line: (Sec. 141.063)

o Required EITHER

Voter Registration number (VUID) – OR –

Date of Birth

NOTE: Except for signature, all other fields may be filled in by another person.

Petition Review

Information required on the Affidavit of Circulator for each group of pages:

o County in which it was notarized

o Date notarized

o Circulator's name and signature

Petition Review

Information required on the Affidavit of Circulator for each group of pages

o Notary’s Signature

o Title

o Notary Stamp

Double Check

Notary Issues:

oThe notary’s term (stamp) did not expire before the date the petitions were notarized.

oNo signer signed after the date the petition(s) were notarized.

If additional signatures are added, the document must then be re-notarized.

The same notary may re-notarize.

A new notary may notarize the additional signatures.

Signature Issues:

oNo more than 10 signatures per page

Signature Verification

How are the signatures verified?

oAfter reviewing each page and marking on the copy of the petition pages which signatures meet the requirements for inclusion, you must ensure that each signer is a registered voter in the district where the candidate is running for office.

A statistical sampling with a 95% accuracy may be used for verification. (Sec. 141.069)

Some counties’ County Clerk or Election Administrator will check the voter signatures for you.