Petition system must be changed to prevent future mistakes, oversights
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Democrats today released their findings from an analysis of John McCain’s 2008 petitions for placement on the Indiana presidential primary ballot. Presidential candidates are required to have 500 signatures per Congressional district to qualify for ballot access in a primary election.
Democrats analyzed McCain’s signatures from the Fourth Congressional District and in Marion County and found the following inconsistencies and irregularities:
- In Tippecanoe County, 47 out of 81 signatures were only validated by Republicans; all other presidential petitions were validated by a Republican and a Democrat. The signatures validated by two Republicans were submitted the day before McCain filed his declaration of candidacy. In 2008, the Tippecanoe County Democratic voter registration member was prepared to testify that she had no knowledge of any signatures being certified without her signature.
- In Montgomery County, none of the signatures submitted were properly authenticated by a local election official.
- In Boone County, there are noticeable handwriting discrepancies among versions of the County Clerk’s signature on the petitions.
- In Morgan County, one page of signatures appears complete, but the local election official’s signature has been whited out on the original submission.
- More than 100 signatures were certified by stamp instead of an original signature, making it impossible to determine who at the local level actually reviewed and approved the petitions.
- Several pages of petitions were submitted after John McCain filed his declaration of candidacy on February 7, 2008, certifying that he already had 500 signatures per Congressional district. Indiana law is unclear whether a candidate can submit additional signatures given that the form is affirmation that the required signatures have been collected.
“It’s obvious that had these questionable signatures not been included in the final count, John McCain would not have had enough signatures to qualify for the primary ballot,” said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Dan Parker, who noted that McCain’s signatures received a formal challenge in 2008.
Parker pointed out that such assertions on both sides of the aisle are purely hypothetical; McCain and President Barack Obama both would have appeared on the general election ballot regardless.
“The past is the past, and we hope there are lessons to be learned from these mistakes. Everyone should be concerned about the inherent flaws and ambiguities in this process,” Parker said. “I hope we can count on Republicans to join with us in supporting changes that will clean up those flaws and make the process better for all candidates who are required to utilize it.”
Parker laid out a series of suggested changes that would restore voters’ trust in the process by eliminating room for error and promoting accountability, transparency and security:
1. Increased campaign tracking. To the best of their ability, campaigns should track the volunteers who submit petitions directly to campaigns instead of voter registration.
2. Accountability at the door. All petitions dropped off at voter registration offices must be signed in by the person dropping off the petitions, just like absentee ballot applications.
3. Early processing. Campaigns should be allowed to start dropping off petitions in November, instead of January, to eliminate the rush in the voter registration offices
4. Mandatory statewide tracking. All counties should utilitze the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) to ensure accurate tracking of the total number of signatures for each candidate.
5. Bipartisan validation at the county level. All petitions must be validated by two members of the board of voter registration representing the Democratic and Republican parties to ensure that petitions are reviewed in a bipartisan manner.
6. Original signatures. All signatures must be original. Stamps may not be used to authenticate petitions at the local level.
7. Legal authority to sign of another. If an authorized signer is unavailable to authenticate petitions, he or she must sign an affidavit granting power of signature to a designee within his or her office who represents the same political party as the authorized signer.
8. Uniformity of process. Forms must be submitted in a uniform manner and must be individually authenticated. Batch submissions will not be accepted.
9. State-level oversight. After certification by voter registration, the county registration offices should send the petitions directly to the Indiana Election Division, not back to the campaigns. As a final level of review after the county certification process, the Indiana Election Division should review and sign off on petitions before they are accepted into the record.
10. Safeguarding petitions. All petitions should be kept in a safe, secure location at the Indiana Election Division with access limited to a small number of staff with bipartisan oversight. Petitions should always be sealed, and an accurate chain of custody must be established and maintained once they are received.