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Petitioning - dos and donts
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Do
  • confirm they are registered voters in Multnomah County. Only allow signatures of people who are registered to vote in Multnomah County

  • watch the person sign the petition; don't just be present in the room. Watch the person sign

  • always have a copy of the initiative when gathering signatures. If asked, you must allow the prospective signer to read the text of the initiative

  • allow the use of a PO Box after verifying that they used that PO Box when they registered to vote

  • sign the petition yourself at the bottom in the “Circulator Certification” area with both your signature and your printed name, the date on which you are signing the petition (must be later than any dated supplied by any voter who signed that sheet), and you home address

  • verify that the date you use when signing the petition is after the date supplied by signers

Do not

  • share any individual signature sheet with another signature gatherer. You must witness each signature; therefore, if someone else gathers some of the signatures on a particular sheet, you could not have witnessed those signatures. That sheet would be invalid and must be deposed of

  • argue with potential signers. Now is the time to gather signatures, not to try to convince people that they need to support this. That can happen after the measure gets on the ballot

  • make any false statement with regard to the effect of the initiative

  • give anything of value to a signer

  • assist a voter in any way in completing the needed information. You may assist a disabled signer who requests assistance in providing all information except their signature

  • use ditto marks to supply any information

  • make any marks on the petitioning

  • cross out anything a signer has written. If they need to make a correction, they should do it and then they should initial the change

  • sign and date the petition until after you have gotten as many signatures on any particular sheet as you are going to get. If you do need to make changes to the Certification, check with the campaign office as there are strict rules about how to do this. Failure to do this properly could invalidate all the signatures on that sheet.

  • write in the area above “Sheet Number”

 Questions: Contact David Delk, 503.232.5495, [email protected] .
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