Guide to Getting Petition Signatures

Step 1: Confirm that you’re a registered Democrat in the 5 boroughs. Go to https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/ and make sure your voter registration is listed as “Active” and “Democrat”. 

  • Sometimes, you might think you’re registered as a Democrat, but you’re actually Independent or Working Families Party, etc. That’s why it’s worth double-checking!

If you are not a registered Democrat, you cannot sign a petition!

Step 2: Get your Petition Sheets one of two ways:

  1. If you have access to a printer that can print legal size paper, print the attached PDF on legal size paper. That’s it! 

    1. Often, petitions are printed on green paper, but this is not legally necessary. Regular white legal paper works. 

  2. If you don’t have a printer, we will drop off your Petition Sheets.

Step 3: Find your friends & family who are registered Democrats. Here are some places you can get signatures: 

  • Anyone in your household

  • Knock on your neighbors’ doors

  • Go to your local bus stop and catch people while they’re waiting for the bus

  • Go to your subway station and get signatures from people exiting

  • Bring your Petition Sheet to the next meeting of your community or religious group

  • Any time you hang out with friends in the city, bring your Sheet and get their signatures!

Step 4: Fill out the Petition Sheet. Two types of people fill out the sheet: the Witness and the Signer. As the person with the Sheet, consider yourself the “Witness”. 

  • You cannot be a witness to yourself. So, for example, if you’re in a 2-person household, Person 1 should be the Witness for Person 2’s signature, and vice versa. This would require filling out two separate Sheets.

  • A person can only sign a petition for ONE mayoral candidate. So before someone signs, ask them if they’ve already signed a mayoral petition this month.

Get to know your Petition Sheet

Guidelines & Rules for Filling out the Petition Sheet 

ANY error can get the entire Sheet thrown out, and none of the signatures count!

  • Please make sure all spelling is correct

  • Use clear, easy-to-read print handwriting

  • Make sure the address is the address that their voter registration is connected to

  • Do not use abbreviations (“St.” instead of “Street,” etc.)

  • Dates

    • You have 5 signature lines on one sheet. The dates next to every signature MUST BE CHRONOLOGICAL. So, if you have one person sign on March 5, and 2 people sign on March 6th, the March 5th person must be listed above the March 6th people. 

    • Your witness signature on each Sheet must happen AFTER all of the above signatures on that Sheet. So, if you have people sign on March 5th, March 6th, and March 7th, your witness signature must be dated March 7th or later. 

  • Use a pen with black ink only

  • Try to avoid getting any spills or wrinkles on your sheets

    • If a sheet gets a spill on it, you should...

      • If it has no signatures on it: throw it away!

      • If it has signatures on it, throw it away IF you can get those signatures re-done.

      • If it has signatures on it that cannot be redone, try to dry/clean off the spill. We’ll submit them as-is and hope for the best.