Michigan, Iowa, Virginia and New Jersey petitions

Filling Out and Circulating a New Jersey Nominating Petition

A New Jersey nominating petition is completed in a set order. First, get the current form for your kind of petition from your filing officer. Next, complete the candidate section before any voter signs. Then each signer writes their own printed name, address and signature by hand, and the pages are verified under oath before an officer authorized to give oaths, such as a notary. On a primary or independent petition, each circulator (the person who collected the signatures) swears that they personally circulated it. On a nonpartisan municipal petition, the candidate and the campaign manager make the sworn statement instead. Finally, you file everything, with your acceptance and oath of allegiance, by your deadline.

Primary petitions are due by 4 p.m. on Monday, March 29, 2027, based on state law, and the other petitions have their own deadlines. This post follows the rules in the New Jersey Statutes (N.J.S.A.); follow the labels on the form your filing officer gives you. For signature numbers, deadlines and objections, see our guide to New Jersey nominating petitions.

Step 1: Get the right form

New Jersey has four kinds of candidate petitions, and each has its own form:

• Party primary petition, for Democratic and Republican candidates. The Secretary of State must publish the primary forms by January 1 of each year with a primary (N.J.S.A. 19:23-7.1).
• Direct nomination petition, for independents and candidates of parties that do not hold a primary.
• Nonpartisan municipal petition, a set of individual certificates. The municipal clerk provides a reasonable number of certificate forms on request (N.J.S.A. 40:45-9).
• School board petition, from your county clerk or board secretary.

Use the current version. The signature numbers changed in 2025 (P.L.2025, c.20), and a form printed before then may be out of date.

Step 2: Complete the candidate section before anyone signs

The candidate section tells every signer who you are and which office you are seeking. Fill it in completely before any voter signs, and write your name, address and office exactly the same way on every page.

Party primary petition. The form names your party and the office. It gives your residence and post office address and a working email address, which every state, county and municipal candidate must include (N.J.S.A. 19:23-7). Petitions for the State Senate, the General Assembly and county office may also name three people as a committee on vacancies, who can name a replacement if a vacancy occurs (N.J.S.A. 19:23-12).

Direct nomination petition. The form gives your name, residence and post office address, the office and your working email address, and states that the signers have not signed another petition for that office (N.J.S.A. 19:13-4).

Nonpartisan certificates. Each certificate names one candidate only (N.J.S.A. 40:45-9). The statutory wording has blanks for the municipality, the signer's address, your name and residence, the office (mayor, council at large, ward council, commissioner or village trustee) and the date of the election (N.J.S.A. 40:45-8). Fill in your details on every certificate before it goes out. The petition also includes your working email address.

School board petition. It is addressed to the secretary of the board of education and gives your name, residence and post office address and the office, with a working email address (N.J.S.A. 19:60-5; 19:60-7). Two or more candidates may file a joint petition.

Step 3: The signer lines

Each line, or each nonpartisan certificate, belongs to one voter:

• Their own handwriting. On a primary petition, the circulator swears that each signature is "in his proper handwriting" (N.J.S.A. 19:23-11). No one may sign for another person.
• A printed name, address and signature. Primary and direct petitions are double-spaced so each signer has room for all three (N.J.S.A. 19:23-7; 19:13-4). On a direct petition, each signer adds their place of residence, post office address and street number (N.J.S.A. 19:13-6).
• A qualified signer. The signer must live in the district for the office. On a primary petition, the signer must be a member of your party who intends to affiliate with it, and a member of another party may not sign (N.J.S.A. 19:23-7; 19:23-10). Ask your filing officer how voters who are not affiliated with any party are treated.
• No more endorsements than seats. On a primary petition, a signer may not endorse more candidates than there are seats to fill (N.J.S.A. 19:23-10). On a direct petition, a voter may sign one petition for each office (N.J.S.A. 19:13-6).

Nonpartisan certificates have extra rules. Each signature goes on its own separate sheet of paper with the signer's name and address (N.J.S.A. 40:45-8). Each signer is a registered voter of the municipality and certifies that they have not signed more certificates than there are seats. For a ward council seat, the signer must live in your ward and may sign only one ward certificate (N.J.S.A. 40:45-9).

Step 4: The sworn statement on each petition

Every New Jersey petition is backed by a sworn statement, and who makes it depends on the petition.

Primary petition: the circulator's affidavit. Each petition is verified by the oath or affirmation of the person who circulated it, made by affidavit before a person qualified to administer an oath. The circulator swears that they personally circulated the petition, that each signature is in the signer's own handwriting, that the signers are, to the best of their knowledge and belief, legal voters of the district and members of the party, and that the petition is filed in good faith. The circulator must be a registered New Jersey voter of the same party (N.J.S.A. 19:23-11).

Direct nomination petition: the circulator's affidavit. The circulator swears before a qualified officer that the petition is made in good faith, that they personally circulated it and saw all the signatures made, and that they believe the signers are qualified voters. The circulator does not have to be registered, but must be at least 18, a New Jersey resident and a U.S. citizen (N.J.S.A. 19:13-7).

Nonpartisan petition: the candidate and the campaign manager. The candidate and the campaign manager each swear, before an officer competent to administer oaths, that the statements are true and each signature is genuine. The candidate's signed oath is also the acceptance of the nomination (N.J.S.A. 40:45-8).

School board petition. School petitions follow the direct nomination procedures where the school election law does not set its own rule (N.J.S.A. 19:60-7), so ask your county clerk which oath your form requires.

On any petition, the candidate may sign, circulate, or both. The Union County Clerk, for example, tells candidates that both the circulator's oath and the candidate's oath are taken before a notary.

Step 5: Circulating, with habits that protect each page

A few habits keep pages valid while they are out:

• Keep the page in hand. The circulator swears to circulating the petition personally, and on a direct petition to seeing every signature made. Never leave a page on a counter, in a break room or with a neighbor to collect signatures later.
• Check who is signing. Ask each person whether they live in the district or ward and, on a primary petition, whether they are a member of your party, before they sign.
• Keep texting separate. If you want to ask signers about campaign texts, use a separate, dated sign-up sheet. Never add anything to the official petition.

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

Step 6: Plan the drive door to door

Door-to-door collection suits a New Jersey petition. Working from a list of households in your district or ward, each signer's address is already placed inside the district before you knock, and on a primary petition you can concentrate on households where members of your party live.

This is where Beacon helps. Draw each circulator's turf on the map, inside the district or ward, 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 not-home doors before opening new turf. The signed paper 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 page, then file

Before filing day, review each page:

• The candidate section is complete and identical on every page.
• Every line or certificate has a signature, a printed name and a full address inside the district or ward.
• Each circulator's affidavit, or the candidate and campaign manager oaths, are signed before an authorized officer.
• Your count is above your minimum with a margin.

To confirm your minimum, see how many signatures you need to run for office in New Jersey. Our general checklist on how to check your petition before filing was written for Illinois, but most of its checks apply to New Jersey pages.

File everything together with the right office: the Secretary of State for the Legislature; the county clerk for county office, independents below the Legislature and November school boards; the municipal clerk for municipal primaries and nonpartisan elections; and the board secretary for April school boards. Attach your acceptance with the oath of allegiance. Senate and Assembly candidates also attach the signed statement about criminal convictions (N.J.S.A. 19:23-15; 19:13-8). Check with the Election Law Enforcement Commission for any other filings. Keep a copy of every page.

After you file

Objections are due by 4 p.m. on the fourth day after the filing deadline; for the primary, that is Friday, April 2, 2027, and amendments, which can never add signatures, are due by 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 1 (based on state law; N.J.S.A. 19:23-20). 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 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 New Jersey covers the campaign that follows filing.

Put your petition turf on a map

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.