I’ve followed the drama of candidates trying to get enough signatures to appear on the ballot. Not only on a local level (Delegates races, which require 125 signatures, if there will be a primary), but on a statewide level, with the Republicans seeking the positions of attorney general and lieutenant governor, and Democrats seeking lieutenant governor. Statewide candidates have to send people all around the state with clipboards, getting thousands of signatures. Which is fine. The problem is when people won’t sign ’em.
Listen, folks, this isn’t hard. In signing a petition, you’re not voting for the person. You’re not even supporting them. You’re just saying “people should have the right to vote for this person if they want to.” To refuse to sign a petition is damned near anti-democratic.
Now, it’s too late this time around, but keep this in mind in a couple of years’ time. Just sign the petitions. Don’t worry who the candidate is, or what their party is. Just sign it.
yeah but; suppose your next-door neighbor or a co-worker or some other type of acquantance wants you to sign one and you know them well enough to know they’re a nutcase on the level of those targeted by the VA Family Values PAC — if it were me, i wouldn’t feel bad about telling the guy to go ask someone else (or rather, 125 other people)
Hey, even I signed a petition for a Democratic Lieutenant Governor candidate who shall remain nameless. It was the only Dem petition I was asked to sign.
John!
Meanwhile, I’m an elected official and a pretty prominent Republican in my jurisdiction. Yet, I was asked to sign petitions for only one of the four Lieutenant Governor candidates on the GOP side. Never even saw a petition for the other three.
You know, I think I’d even sign Bob Marshall or Dick Black’s petition. (Though I could understand why others would feel otherwise. :) I figure, fine, give voters a choice.
What’s the deal with the requirement of legal-sized paper for these petitions? I am strongly opposed to the use of legal-sized paper, preferring the illegal size.
I believe that Charlottesville and Albemarle registrars overlook that particular requirement, wisely. I agree — it’s a strange requirement.