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Valid signature

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Laws governing ballot measures

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State
Laws governing state initiative processes
Laws governing state recall processes
Changes to ballot measure law in 2025
Difficulty analysis of changes to laws governing ballot measures
Analysis of 2025 changes to laws governing ballot measures
Local
Laws governing local ballot measures

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A valid signature on a ballot initiative petition is a signature that an election official determined meets the state or local legal standards and counts toward the minimum number of valid signatures required to place an initiative on the ballot.

The laws governing signature standards differ between the states. However, each requires signatures, at minimum, to be from registered or eligible voters in that state.

Other factors that could affect whether a signature is valid or invalid on an initiative petition include where the signature gatherer adhered to the laws governing petition circulators; whether the petition was notarized; or whether someone witnessed the signature.

Types of ballot measures

See also: Ballot measure

Most ballot measures are placed on the ballot through citizen initiatives or legislative processes. Others are placed on the ballot automatically, by a special commission, or by a state constitutional convention. The following is a list of different types of state ballot measures:

Types of state ballot measures
Citizen-initiated ballot measure
Initiated constitutional amendment
Direct initiated constitutional amendment
Indirect initiated constitutional amendment
Initiated state statute
Direct initiated state statute
Indirect initiated state statute
Combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statute
Veto referendum
Statute affirmation (Nevada)
Legislatively referred ballot measure
Legislatively referred constitutional amendment
Legislatively referred state statute
Legislatively referred bond measure
Advisory question
Other type of state ballot measure
Automatic ballot referral
Constitutional convention question
Commission-referred ballot measure
Convention-referred constitutional amendment
Political party advisory question

See also

Footnotes