On February 3, Bernie Sanders filed approximately 80,000 signatures to be on the New York Democratic presidential primary ballot. The requirement is 5,000 signatures. Hillary Clinton had filed 70,000 the day before.
On February 3, Bernie Sanders filed approximately 80,000 signatures to be on the New York Democratic presidential primary ballot. The requirement is 5,000 signatures. Hillary Clinton had filed 70,000 the day before.
Are there jurisdictions in this country where you can have a petition refused for excessive signatures?
Looks like neither Bernie or Hillary wanted to take chances on handing in too few signatures.
This is an I sane level of overkill on signatures.
Insane.
If signatures indicate support, wouldn’t a candidate want more of them?
California law seems to set a limit on how many signatures can be submitted to get on a primary ballot, but a state court ruled a few years ago that if the candidate submits too many signatures, that doesn’t mean he or she is disqualified. It just means that the excess signatures should be refused.
Ohio law also sets a limit on how many signatures a statewide candidate may submit. The requirement is 5,000 but no one may submit more than 15,000.
Did Rocky file there as well?
Michigan has maximum as well as minimum numbers of signatures to be submitted to get on the ballot. See MCL 168.544f and this somewhat neater chart:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/sos/Pet_Sig_Req_Chart_Population_444614_7.pdf
And MCL 168.548 makes it “unlawful for any candidate to wilfully and intentionally procure more names upon nominating petitions than the maximum number prescribed in this act.”