U.S. House member Kendrick Meek recently submitted a petition to qualify for the Democratic Party primary ballot, instead of paying the filing fee. He is running for U.S. Senate. His petition has been verified. He needed 112,476 valid signatures and the counties have verified 115,557 valid signatures. See this story.

Excluding California, Meek’s petition is the first candidate petition in U.S. history to meet a requirement greater than 100,000 signatures.

Any registered voter was free to sign Meek’s petition in lieu of the fee. The fee would have been approximately $10,000, although chances are Meek spent more than that, getting the signatures.