I just attended an educational meeting with the AFL-CIO Union concerning getting signatures on a petition bill in MO. The petition was to refute the state's effort to make MO a 'right to work' state. This is not the first meeting of this sort I have attended as I was involved in a petition drive for pot legalization. But this was certainly one of the most intense and complete. I am sure that many other petition drives have utilized the procedures used by this Union, but maybe there are one or two ideas that can be incorporated in your efforts.
They began by going over the petition form pointing out where and how everything should be filled out and signed. Although this would vary from state to state, the emphasis was on getting all spaces correct. The note they made was that even though they had just received the approval from the state, there was one more step they would take.
One of the speakers was from the state of Ohio where they had successfully put a petition on the ballot. He told of a time when a petition had been collected with signatures, but had been rejected because it was not the proper form with some mistake even though it had been approved by the state. So, the finally step they would take was to take a printed petition down to the office of the Secretary of State. They would take it into the office and have him personally, in person, verify the accuracy of the petition.
The next step involved the signed petition. They requested all solicitors of signatures to return the petition forms to the office every three days even though they might not have all spaces filled. The reason being that they needed to know where they were in the process and where they might need to send additional people to obtain signers. In addition, at this time they would make a copy of the petition and this would give them a database to call just before the election time to remind and encourage the signer to vote. Of course, this would give them a database in case they needed to call on some other labor related measure in future years.
The emphasis would be to get sufficient signatures to qualify the petition to be put on the ballot. If I understood him correctly, only 3 out of 5 signatures would stand up toward the count, so extra signatures would definitely be needed. Only after being satisfied with enough signatures, would the project go to the next level.
In MO, one can register to vote by filling out a “Missouri Voter Registration Application” card. One can go door to door, set up a table, attend rallies and so on to collect signatures. Here again, the Union wanted the forms sent to them every three days. The names and telephone numbers would be copied and then the form sent to the state. In this manner, we have made sure that the form is filed and we have collected another voter registration to contact. In about 2 weeks, the Union will make a follow-up call to make sure they received their voter ID. And of course, there is a number to call just before the election date. This shows concern for the voter. This could be all that is needed to swing the vote to our side.
There is one more step. Those who will be soliciting will need to fill out a “Registration Form for Voter Registration Solicitors”. This is for the state, but at the meeting they had these forms for us to fill out. This served two purposes. We didn't have to find a form to fill and mail and again, the Union had a list of people to call to ask for additional help or support.
Even if I am collecting signatures for some petition that doesn't have the same support from the organization sponsoring it, or if I am on my own signing up new voters, I can collect this database and on election day, make calls to people I have already met. Signing someone does not mean they will follow through and vote. Sometimes, many times, they need a little push and your concern could make all the difference in the world.