A Guide to a Perfect Petition
1. Any registered Republican in your town can sign your petition.
2. You can only sign one petition for the office of Supervisor, Town Clerk/ Collector, Town Clerk, Collector, Highway Superintendent, County Representative.
3. If you are a candidate for Councilman, Assessor or Town Justice and you have two seats open; yes you can sign two petitions for the above offices.
4. The top of your Petition must read Republican Party.
5. The Primary date must be entered : TBA
6. Name of Candidate(s): Thomas T Jones (exactly as your name is on the registration list; no nicknames)
7. Public office for Party Position, Place of Residence (also Post office address, if not identical):
Councilman Town of Otsego, 124 Willow Ave, PO Box 55, Fly Creek.
8. I do hereby appoint: (Three people with names and addresses) to be my committee to fill vacancies.
9. Number of Signatures needed for the Petitions________________________________________________________
10. First day to sign a Party Petition is TBA
11. Filings dates for Party Petitions: with the Board of Elections.
TBA by 4:00 PM and TBA until 5:00 PM
Where to file your Petition:
Otsego County Board of Elections
140 Co Hwy 33W, Suite 2,
Cooperstown, NY 13326 (The old Meadows)
12. Now you are going to start to get Signatures:
you put in today's DATE of when the person signs the petition.
Have the person sign the petition like their name is on the enrollment list.
You can put their Residence address in (like on the enrollment list); No PO Box #'s; you need physical address(where they live ...124 Willow Ave, Fly Creek)
Town or City; town is Otsego, not Cooperstown or Fly Creek; town is Maryland, not Schenevus.
13. Statement of Witness at bottom of Petition
Name of Witness (the person who is passing this Petition) (Thomas T. Jones)
Residence address is (124 Willow Ave, Fly Creek, NY 13337)
Number of Signatures on this page____________
Signature of witness that is who passed this Petition Thomas T. Jones
14. Witness Identification Information
Town or City _______________Otsego_______ County _____________Otsego______
15. Sheet No: _________________ (Do not number your sheet until you have all your signatures)
16. The last thing you will do is fasten your petitions together with staples and number your sheets.
If you have 9 pages you do not need a cover sheet. If you have 10 pages you must use a cover sheet.
17. If you have any questions on your Petition call your town committee person or Sheila or Lori at the Board of Elections.
18. Now your are ready to file your Petition. Must file between July 7 & July 9 by 4:00 PM and July 10 until 5:00 PM at the Board of Election
(The old Meadows).
If you are a candidate you can only have your name on one petition. You either pass your own or you can have 3 or 4 candidates on one petition. You can not have it both ways. If you file a petition with more than 1 candidate's name on it you need to file all of those petitions at one time.
If your town committee endorses a person who is NOT a Republican a town committee person has to get a Certificate of Authorization from the County Chair prior to passing a petition.
The Person who is running for an office that is not a Republican MUST sign a Certificate of Acceptance.
Both of these forms should be filed at the same time your petition is filed at the Board of Elections
Written objections to a Designating Petition
Any one who can vote for an office in the Town can file General objections within 3 days of the filing of the Petition. Then you have 6 days to file specifications on the grounds of the objection. Then the Board is hereby empowered to make a ruling in reference to the filing of the objections.
Incorrect signatures are often the reason for objections to Petitions. That is why you always want to get more signatures than are needed.
