All around Centre County, both Republicans and Democrats are rallying to get petitions signed for president, Senate and local candidates.
But just how important are these signatures? Well, before candidates can focus on their campaigns, they have to worry about getting on the ballot, which is where petitions come in.
The Lincoln Day Dinner is a yearly fundraising event held by the Centre County Republicans. This year, the event was held at Toftrees Golf Resort. Steve Miller, Chairman of the Centre County Republicans, says the event is a chance for party members to socialize, but also an important way to get petitions signed.
“We try to pick a date within the petition circulating time, and that’s why we have a table full of presidential,” Miller said, “as well as Senator Toomey, our house members, and then the various people who are running for delegate.”
Both Democrats and Republicans host events around this time each year to collect vital petition signatures. Republican O.J. Johnston says getting petitions signed is the one last hurdle before candidates can focus on campaigning.
“It’s the gateway to political office,” Johnston said.
The number of signatures each candidate needs varies based on the position they’re running for. While local candidates, like delegates to the national convention, need a minimum of 250 signatures, candidates for Senate need more than 2,000.
Michael Straw is collecting signatures for his own campaign. He’s a junior at Penn State running for alternate Republican delegate. Along with other hopeful candidates in Centre County, he has been collecting signatures since January 26.
“The process is grueling because you have to go up to at least 250 individuals and ask them to sign your petition,” Straw said.
But he says once he starts talking to a potential signer, they start to warm up a bit.
“A lot of people when they open their doors are very willing to sign,” Straw said, “because they look at it and say ‘finally something that doesn’t have to do with politics itself, it’s just helping someone get on a ballot. I think I can support that.’”
Across town, the Centre County Democrats are using a different approach. They’ve held watching events and open hours for petition signing. The party also has volunteers that go door to door to collect signatures for their favorite candidates. Centre County Commissioner and Democrat Mark Higgins says petition signing makes the political process personal.
“They help involve the local citizens in the process because you can’t get on the ballot unless you get whatever the required number of signatures is,” Higgins said. “So it’s a very important step in the process and it makes politics so much more face-to-face and grass roots.”
The process may seem easy, but it requires precision. If someone signing a petition signs under the wrong area, writes the wrong date or even simply uses a nickname, the signature is disqualified. One mistake can affect following signatures on that petition as well, causing a candidate to possibly suffer a great loss. Higgins says the process can get a little tricky.
“I do know someone who ran in the last election cycle, was only able to gather about 110 signatures during the petition period…well 11 of them got invalidated, so that person was not able to run,” said Higgins.
There’s also a limit to how many positions an individual can sign. For president, Senate, and any other officials other than delegates, they can only sign for one candidate. For Democrat William Van Saun, choosing one presidential candidate is easy. Van Saun supports Hillary Clinton, who he says is a role model for how politicians should be.
“I was a big fan of, you know, the hard work that she put in, even as a senator in New York,” said Van Saun. “She’s dedicated; she wasn’t showy when she was originally in the Senate. She carried that through as Secretary of State.”
While some voters like Van Saun already know who they want to win, others like Democrat William Hughes are willing to support anyone at this stage by signing their petitions.
“I have respect for anybody who is willing to put themselves out there to either run for delegate or for elected office,” said Hughes, “and I think that it’s really important that we get people on the ballot so we have choices.”
The deadline for both parties to submit their petitions is five o’clock this evening.