Missouri signature requirements

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This page details Missouri signature requirements. In many states, the signatures of registered voters must be collected to place candidates or initiatives on the ballot. However, for candidates, filing fees are sometimes required or accepted in lieu of signatures.

Federal offices

U.S. Senate

Partisan candidates for U.S. Senate must pay a $200 filing fee.

Independent candidates for U.S. Senate must submit a petition signed by at least 10,000 registered Missouri voters.

Write-in candidates for U.S. Senate must file a declaration of intent with the proper election authority prior to 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday immediately preceding the election day.

U.S. House

Partisan candidates for U.S. House must pay a $100 filing fee.

Independent candidates for U.S. House must submit a petition signed by at least 10,000 registered Missouri voters.

Write-in candidates for U.S. House must file a declaration of intent with the proper election authority prior to 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday immediately preceding the election day.

Filing deadlines

2012

See also: Signature requirements and deadlines for 2012 U.S. Congress elections

Partisan candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House had to submit their filing fee by March 27, 2012.

Independent candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House had to submit their petition by July 30, 2012.

Write-in candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House had to file a declaration of intent with the proper election authority prior to 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday immediately preceding the election day.

State offices

Statewide executive offices

Partisan candidates for statewide offices must pay a filing fee of $200.

Independent candidates for statewide offices must submit a petition with at least 10,000 registered Missouri voters.

Write-in candidates for statewide offices must file a declaration of intent with the proper election authority prior to 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday immediately preceding the election day.

State legislature

Partisan candidates for State Senate and State House must pay a $50 filing fee.

Filing deadlines

2012

See also: Signature requirements and deadlines for 2012 state government elections

Partisan candidates for State Senate and State House had to pay their filing fee by March 27, 2012.

Independent candidates had to submit their petition by July 30, 2012.

Write-in candidates had to file a declaration of intent with the proper election authority prior to 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday immediately preceding the election day.

Ballot measures

Missouri signature requirements for ballot initiatives are among the more complicated in the country.

Current requirements

Boxes of petitions filed at Missouri Secretary of State's office on May 2, 2010 Photo credit:Earl Glynn

See also: Distribution requirement

The signature requirement total is based on the number of votes cast for governor in the state's most recent gubernatorial election. In 2/3 of Missouri's congressional districts, proponents must collect signatures equal to 5% of the gubernatorial vote for initiated statutes and 8% of the gubernatorial vote for constitutional amendments. Thus, the total number of signatures required will be less than 5% (or 8%) of the total votes cast for governor.

Until the next gubernatorial election, the minimum number of signatures required (counting the six lowest voting districts) is 146,907 for amendments and 91,818 for statutes.

Congressional district	2008 gubernatorial vote	Rank (among districts)	Statute	Amendment
1st	301,597	8	15,080	24,128
2nd	382,957	1	19,148	30,637
3rd	312,172	5	15,609	24,974
4th	306,260	7	15,313	24,501
5th	311,686	6	15,585	24,935
6th	330,826	2	16,542	26,467
7th	325,991	4	16,300	26,080
8th	278,604	9	13,931	22,289
9th	328,315	3	16,416	26,266

See law: Missouri Constitution, Article III, Section 50 & 53

2010 requirements

Boxes of petitions filed at Missouri Secretary of State's office on May 2, 2010 Photo credit:Earl Glynn

See also: Distribution requirement

Congressional district	2008 gubernatorial vote	Rank (among districts)	Statute	Amendment
1st	301,597	8	15,080	24,128
2nd	382,957	1	19,148	30,637
3rd	312,172	5	15,609	24,974
4th	306,260	7	15,313	24,501
5th	311,686	6	15,585	24,935
6th	330,826	2	16,542	26,467
7th	325,991	4	16,300	26,080
8th	278,604	9	13,931	22,289
9th	328,315	3	16,416	26,266

2008 requirements

Congressional district	2004 gubernatorial vote	Rank (among districts)	Statute	Amendment
1st	289,772	6	14,489	23,182
2nd	359,833	1	17,992	28,787
3rd	297,193	4	14,860	23,775
4th	285,362	7	14,268	22,829
5th	294,086	5	14,704	23,527
6th	322,185	2	16,109	25,775
7th	318,120	3	15,906	25,450
8th	269,539	9	13,477	21,563
9th	284,049	8	14,202	22,724

Deadlines

2012

The deadline to submit signatures for the 2012 ballot in Missouri was May 6, 2012.

Other requirements

Missouri has a number of restrictions on the signature-collection process.

• Circulators must be at least 18.
• Circulators are required to register with the government, and signatures collected by a circulator who has not done so on or before the petition filing deadline do not count as valid signatures (regardless of signer intent).
• Each page of an initiative or referendum petition can contain signatures of voters from only one county. Each petition sheet is to contain a county designation in its upper right-hand corner. Signatures of voters from counties other than the designated county do not count as valid.
• All petition pages must be submitted at one time to the Missouri Secretary of State.
• When signatures are filed, the initiative sponsor is required to submit paperwork to the government that shows the number of petition pages per county and circulator reports.
• Signature pages must be in order and numbered sequentially. If they are not, the signatures are discarded.
• The page number and county in which the petition signers on a given page are registered to vote must be designated in the upper right-hand corner of each page.
• The county in which the petition signers are registered to vote must be designated in the paragraph at the top of the petition page which begins with “We, the undersigned…”
• When petition signatures are filed, petition pages are to be arranged in file folders limited to 100 pages per folder. Folders are be labeled with the contents.
• "File folders should be placed in cardboard file boxes clearly labeled with the contents."
• For 2010, "A completed 'Circulator Registration Form' must be filed for each circulator of each petition on or before 5:00 pm on May 2, 2010."

See also

• Procedures for qualifying an initiative in Missouri
• Laws governing the initiative process in Missouri
• Missouri Initiative and Referendum Law
• History of Initiative & Referendum in Missouri
• Petition drive deadlines in 2008
• States where signature requirements are based on votes cast for governor

External links

• Missouri signature requirements collated by the Citizens in Charge Foundation
• General Missouri I&R information
• Missouri election results
• Election Calendar 2012
• Elected Official Qualifications 2012
• Write in Candidates Qualifications 2012
• Independent Candidate Qualifications 2012