Michigan, Iowa, Virginia and New Jersey petitions

Filling Out and Circulating a Michigan Nominating Petition

A Michigan nominating petition sheet has four parts: the heading at the top, a printed warning, the signer lines, and the certificate of circulator at the bottom. The candidate completes the heading before anyone signs. Each voter signs in the physical presence of the circulator (the person collecting the signatures), and the circulator signs and dates the certificate only after the last signature. You then file every sheet, with two copies of your notarized Affidavit of Identity, at the city clerk's office by 4 p.m. on your deadline: Tuesday, April 20, 2027 in a city with an August primary, or Tuesday, July 20, 2027 in a city that nominates by petition straight to November (both computed from state law).

This post follows those steps in order, using the form in MCL 168.544a and 168.544c and the Bureau of Elections' filing instructions. For signature numbers, deadlines and challenges, see our guide to Michigan nominating petitions.

Step 1: Get the right form from your city clerk

Michigan sets the petition's size, type and wording by law: 8-1/2 by 14 inches, with "nominating petition" in 24-point bold type (MCL 168.544c). A nonpartisan petition adds the word "nonpartisan" and contains no reference to any political party (MCL 168.544a).

Ask your city clerk which of three sheets your office uses:

• City/Township Nonpartisan Nominating Petition, for a city with nonpartisan elections;
• City/Township Partisan Nominating Petition, for a party candidate in a city with partisan elections; or
• City/Township Qualifying Petition, for a candidate with no party in a city with partisan elections.

The Bureau of Elections warns that "candidates must use the correct petition form or risk disqualification." A sheet of the wrong type is invalid, along with every signature on it. Clerks must provide a reasonable number of sheets at no charge, and commercial election suppliers also sell them. Whoever prints your sheets must follow the size and type rules exactly; the Bureau of Elections' review codes list wrong type sizes and a warning cut off in printing as form errors.

Step 2: Complete the heading before anyone signs

The heading tells every signer who you are and what office you seek. On the statutory form, it reads in part: "We, the undersigned, registered and qualified voters of the city or township of ..., in the county of ... and state of Michigan, nominate ..." Fill in:

1. Your name and address, the same way on every sheet.
2. The office, including the ward or district if your seat has one.
3. The date of the election. For an office nominated at the primary, this is the primary date.
4. Your party, only on a partisan petition.

The candidate fills this in unless the charter has the clerk do it. A sheet whose heading is missing any required item is invalid.

County and city of circulation. Before a sheet goes out, the circulator enters the county and the city or township where it will be circulated. Only one city or township may be listed on a sheet, and every signer on it must be registered there (MCL 168.544c). If your city lies in more than one county, give each circulator separate sheets for each county, because a signer must use a sheet that lists their own county.

Step 3: The signer lines

Each line belongs to one voter. The columns are signature, printed name, street address or rural route, ZIP code, and date of signing (month, day and year). The rules for each line:

• A qualified signer. The signer must be registered in your city, and in your ward or district if the seat has one, on the date they sign.
• Their own signature. No one may sign for another person. A person with a disability may sign with the same mark they use on their voter registration or Michigan driver's license or state ID.
• A complete address and date. A line with no street address or rural route, or no date of signing, is invalid (MCL 168.544c). A post office box is not an address for this purpose. Ditto marks are acceptable when a signer lives at the same address as the line above.
• Help with the details is allowed. Another person, including the circulator, may fill in the signer's address or print the date. Only the signature must be the signer's own.
• Printed name and ZIP code. Ask every signer to print the name they are registered under, though a missing printed name or ZIP code does not by itself invalidate the line.
• Once per seat. A voter may not sign more petitions for the same office than there are people to be elected (MCL 168.544c). For a single seat, such as mayor, that means one candidate's petition.

You may sign your own petition, and a circulator who meets the signer rules may sign the sheet they carry.

Step 4: Circulate in person, and never leave a sheet behind

The Bureau of Elections states the main rule this way: "A signature made outside of sight of a circulator, including a virtual signature, is not valid. A circulator may not leave a petition sheet unattended at any time."

A few habits keep sheets valid while they are out:

• One circulator per sheet. A single sheet may not be passed between volunteers.
• Keep the sheet in hand. Never leave a sheet on a counter, in a break room or with a friendly neighbor to collect signatures later.
• Ask before each signature. Confirm that the person is registered in the city, or in the ward for a ward seat.
• Cross out doubtful lines before filing. The Bureau of Elections' review codes treat a signature crossed out before filing as not counted, so a circulator can remove a line they know is a problem.

Check each circulator's first sheet yourself. Our general post on recruiting and training petition circulators uses Illinois examples, but its approach to briefing volunteers works in Michigan too.

Step 5: The certificate of circulator

The bottom of each sheet is the certificate of circulator. On the statutory form, the circulator asserts that they are at least 18 and a United States citizen, that each signature was signed in their presence, that no one signed more than once to their knowledge, and that each signer was, to the best of their knowledge, a registered elector of the city or township in the heading. The circulator then gives their printed name, signature, the date and a complete residence address, not a post office box.

Three rules matter most:

1. Sign and date it only after circulating. The form says "Do not sign or date certificate until after circulating petition," and a circulator may not collect any signature after signing the certificate. A signature dated after the certificate is invalid (MCL 168.544c).
2. Complete every part. A sheet whose certificate is blank, incomplete or improperly completed is invalid, along with all of its signatures. A missing ZIP code on the certificate is acceptable.
3. Out-of-state circulators check the box. Circulators do not have to be registered voters or Michigan residents. A circulator who lives outside Michigan must mark the out-of-state line, or every signature on the sheet is invalid.

A false statement on the certificate is a misdemeanor. There is no notary step on the petition sheet itself.

Step 6: Plan the drive door to door

Door-to-door collection suits a Michigan city petition: working from a list of registered voters in your city or ward places each signer inside the district, and an area inside one county keeps the county on each sheet correct.

This is where Beacon helps. Draw each circulator's turf on the map, inside the city or ward and inside one county, and assign it. Add your contacts, and when a circulator downloads their walk list, the stops are in walking order by distance. Beacon routes circulators door to door and records which doors were visited and the result at each one: contacted, not home, refused, come back later and the other door codes. At each door, the circulator can note "signed" or "not signed" in the door result's Notes field. Send circulators back to the not-home doors before opening new turf. The signed sheet is the only legal record of each signature; Beacon keeps the record of the doors. Every plan includes unlimited canvassers, so you can add circulators without changing your price.

Step 7: Review every sheet, then file

Before filing day, review each sheet:

• The sheet is the right type, and the heading is complete and identical on every sheet.
• The county and city are filled in, and every signer lives there (and in the ward, for a ward seat).
• Every line has a signature, a street address and a date that falls on or before the certificate date.
• The certificate is complete, signed and dated, with the out-of-state line marked if it applies.
• Your total of good signatures is above the minimum and does not exceed the maximum.

To confirm your minimum and maximum, see how many signatures you need to run for office in Michigan.

Then file. Take all of your sheets and two copies of your Affidavit of Identity, signed before a notary (the notarization date must match the date you sign), to the city clerk's office by 4 p.m. on your deadline (MCL 168.558). The filing counts only when every part is in the clerk's physical possession. Ask for a filing receipt showing the date, the time and the number of sheets, and keep a copy of every sheet. If you are short before the deadline, you may make a supplemental filing, within the maximum.

After you file

For an April 20 filing, you may withdraw in writing until 4 p.m. on Friday, April 23, 2027, and written signature challenges may be filed until Tuesday, April 27, 2027 (both based on state law). Keep those days clear.

A signature on your petition is not permission to text the signer. If you want to text supporters, keep a separate sign-up sheet, never the petition sheet itself, that says plainly the person agrees to receive campaign texts and records the date. Only people who agreed that way should get texts. CampaignCNX+, a separate texting product, handles those texts, and its guide to running for local office in Michigan covers the campaign that follows filing.

Put your petition turf on a map

A correctly completed sheet still has to reach the right voters. Beacon puts each circulator's turf on a map and keeps a record of every door, with unlimited canvassers on every plan. Start a 14-day trial and set up your first turf before your deadline.