I was having coffee this morning with a potential new candidate for the State House of Representatives as part of their decision making process. While many people are focusing on the impending holiday season, those looking at 2022 know the election cycle is well underway.
It was particularly good reminder that if a person is thinking about running they’d best be preparing to launch their campaign publicly about January 1st, and to gather petition signatures right away. Why am I firm about candidates getting petitions done so quickly? Because the early bird gets to fix screw-ups. And inevitably, there will be screw-ups.
According to the Secretary of State, Party nominating petitions may be filed no earlier than January 1 and no later than 5:00 p.m. local time March 29, 2022. That’s a pretty generous window for candidates to go out and get things signed. The problem gets to be when people procrastinate and wait until the end, because only then do you find out that the person in the County Auditor’s office who you had do your petitions filled out a field incorrectly on your declaration of candidacy. Or that the circulator also notarized it. Or that the notary’s commission expired, and they didn’t renew it. Or even better, the candidate waited until the last minute and sent the petitions in on the last day certified mail, and not registered.
These are all real errors that either caused or threatened to cause rejections of petitions submitted by candidates for office in the last few years.
When I admonish that the early bird gets to fix screw-ups, if petitions are rejected for errors nothing prevents the candidate from going back to the well and re-doing them correctly if they are within that nearly 3-month window. But once that 3/29 deadline has passed, the only possible way to remedy errors are to attempt to argue it in court and plead “voter intent.”
Candidates would do well to remember that there are absolutely people looking over the candidate’s shoulders and checking. Even if they pass the spot check the Secretary of State does, private individuals have gone in and reviewed petitions signature by signature. And I’ve heard rumors that in recent years State Democrats have on occasion gone in and pulled all Republican petitions to review.
It’s not just newbies who get stung by simple mistakes, either. I can point to examples on both sides of the aisle where incumbent legislators had petition problems, and found themselves having to run as Independents because the window had closed for a partisan ballot, making them have to campaign twice as hard to overcome that hurdle.
As they prepare to launch their efforts next month, candidates should familiarize themselves with the Secretary of State’s guide to Circulating a Nominating Petition, and be aware of the laws that guide the SOS on how petitions are to be circulated. As noted in the guide, “It is prudent to submit any petition to the filing authority with ample time prior to the deadline to allow you to collect additional signatures if there are not sufficient valid signatures presented on your initial petition.”
Good advice that candidates should take to heart. Starting January 1, get your petitions done, get them in, and you’ll be that much ahead of the game.
One year a prospective opponent turned in exactly 50 signatures (the minimum for county commissioner) right at the 5:00 pm deadline. I checked them and saw problems. We felt 35 signatures were bad and appealed to the Auditor. He agreed that 17 were not legit and the fella did not get on the ballot and at that point time was up and the errors could not be fixed.
As I recall there were people from other states and other counties who signed.