In Pennsylvania, all candidates need petitions to run for office. Democrats and Republicans need petitions to place themselves on primary ballots, and all other candidates need substantially more difficult petitions to get on the November ballot.
The Pennsylvania Elections Department plans a new type of petition this year. The sheets will be 8.5 inches by eleven inches, instead of legal size. That size fits on clipboards better. Also, the forms will be available on the Elections Department web page, and there will be a procedure by which a candidate can fill in the blanks for name, office being sought, etc., and then when the forms are printed, that information will be included in the printing job.
Also, after petitions have been circulated, the sheets will be posted on the Elections Department’s web page, so that challengers will be able to see them without purchasing paper copies. UPDATE: see this story about the new forms at www.PoliticsPa.com.
“The Pennsylvania Elections Department plans a new type of petition this year. The sheets will be 8.5 inches by eleven inches, instead of legal size. That size fits on clipboards better.”
I have gathered petition signatures in Pennsylvania several times, and I prefer the larger paper. The larger paper fits fine on clipboards if you use larger clipboards. Using smaller paper means that you’ll have to change the paper on your clipboards more frequently, and it also means that the party or candidates will have to spend more money photo copying blank petitions. So I do not consider this to be a good development.
So this is just for nominating petitions, or for nominating papers, too?