Michigan, Iowa, Virginia and New Jersey petitions

Filling Out and Circulating a Virginia Candidate Petition

Virginia's Petition of Qualified Voters (form ELECT-506/521) is one sheet of paper printed on both sides. The candidate completes the candidate information and the election details at the top before anyone signs. Up to 12 voters each print their name, sign, and write their full residence address and the date, which must be on or after January 1 of the election year. The circulator (the person who collects the signatures) witnesses every signature, then completes the affidavit on the back and signs it in front of a notary. The pages are filed with your Declaration of Candidacy: with the party chair by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 1, 2027 for a primary, or with the general registrar by 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15, 2027 for an independent or school board candidate. Both deadlines are based on state law, so confirm them with your general registrar.

This post follows those steps in order, using the form's own instructions, ELECT's candidate bulletins, the petition statutes (Va. Code §§ 24.2-506 and 24.2-521) and the State Board's petition regulation (1VAC20-50-20). Follow the labels on the form you print. For signature numbers, deadlines and how petitions are reviewed, see our guide to Virginia candidate petitions.

Step 1: Print the right form, the right way

Download the current Petition of Qualified Voters from the Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) candidate forms page. It comes in letter size and legal size. A few printing rules decide whether a page is accepted at all:

• One sheet, both sides. The front holds lines 1 to 6, and the back holds lines 7 to 12 and the circulator affidavit. The instructions say: "If the front and back are on two separate pieces of paper, the petition will not be accepted." ELECT's bulletin adds that the whole page, front and back, is then invalid.
• No changes. ELECT says the form "cannot be altered in any way." Do not add a column, a texting line or a campaign logo.
• One locality per page, where it helps. "When an election district includes more than one county or city, it is suggested that you use a separate petition form for qualified voters in each county or city." Label each stack so circulators take the right pages.

Step 2: Complete the top of the page before anyone signs

ELECT's instructions say the "Candidate Information" and "Petition Signer Statement" sections "must be completed prior to obtaining signatures." Fill them in on every page before it goes out.

Candidate information asks for your ballot name, your full residence address, the office sought and the district. The State Board's regulation treats a missing candidate name and address, a missing office or a missing election district on the front as a fatal error for the whole page (1VAC20-50-20). A 2026 law lets candidates give their voter ID number instead of a residence address on ballot access filings from January 1, 2027, so ask ELECT how to complete the address line on the 2027 form.

The petition signer statement names the county, city or town, and has you check one kind of election (general, special, Democratic primary or Republican primary) and write its date. Primary candidates check their own party's primary; independent and school board candidates check general election. The regulation treats missing election details as a minor error if the registrar can verify the page, but complete them anyway.

Write your name, office and district the same way on every page, including the name and office lines at the top of the back side.

Step 3: The signer lines

Each line belongs to one voter. The form asks for:

• Printed full name and signature. The signature must be the voter's own. No one may sign for a spouse, a parent or a neighbor.
• Full residential address, including city, state and ZIP. A post office box is not acceptable.
• Date signed, which must be on or after January 1 of the election year.
• The last four digits of the Social Security number, which is optional. The form tells signers they may leave it blank, and leaving it blank does not invalidate the signature (§§ 24.2-506, 24.2-521).

The form tells each signer that the signature "does not signify an intent to vote for the candidate" and that they "may sign petitions for more than one candidate," which helps when a voter hesitates.

Who may sign. A signer must be a qualified voter who can vote for the office: a registered voter, on the voter rolls with active status or with inactive status and qualified to vote for the office, who lives in the district (1VAC20-50-20). The address the signer writes must match their registration, or be in the same precinct where they are registered so the registrar can still identify them. A voter who has moved recently and not updated their registration is a risk, so ask.

Minor errors. If the registrar can still verify the voter, the regulation forgives a nickname, initials with a last name, a printed name on the signature line, or a missing year. Clear, complete lines are still the goal.

Step 4: The circulator affidavit and the notary

The back of each page ends with the circulator affidavit. The circulator prints their full name and full residential address and swears or affirms that they:

1. are not a minor;
2. are not a felon whose voting rights have not been restored;
3. witnessed the signature of each person who signed the page, front and back; and
4. consent to the jurisdiction of the Virginia courts in resolving any disputes about the petition.

The circulator then signs and dates the affidavit in front of a notary, who completes the notary block, including the notary's signature, registration number, commission expiration date and a photographically reproducible seal. The form warns that falsely signing the affidavit is a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.

Several rules about the affidavit decide whether the page counts (1VAC20-50-20 and ELECT's bulletin):

• Notarize after the last signature. A signature dated later than the notary's date is invalid. Bring finished pages to the notary, never blank ones.
• The circulator signs, no one else. If anyone other than the circulator signs the affidavit, the page is invalid.
• No signing your own page. A circulator may not also sign as a voter on a page they are circulating.
• A complete notary block. A missing seal, registration number or commission date invalidates the page.

Who may circulate. By law, a circulator may not be "a minor or a felon whose voting rights have not been restored" (§§ 24.2-506, 24.2-521), and ELECT adds that the circulator must be a legal resident of the United States. If a circulator who lives outside Virginia does not consent to Virginia court jurisdiction, the signatures they collected are not counted.

Step 5: Circulating, with the habits that protect each page

• Keep the page in hand. The circulator swears to witnessing every signature. Never leave a page on a counter, in a break room or with a friendly neighbor.
• Ask for legible, complete lines. ELECT notes that clear instructions improve the chance a signature is accepted.
• Check pages after each session. Look for missing addresses, post office boxes, signers from outside the district and dates before January 1, while the circulator still remembers the street.
• Schedule notary sessions. A set weekly time with a notary lets circulators bring their finished pages together.

Check each new 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 Virginia too.

Step 6: Plan the drive door to door

Door-to-door collection suits a Virginia petition: working from a list of households in your district places each signer inside the district, and a circulator whose area sits in one county or city keeps their pages to one locality.

This is where Beacon helps. Draw each circulator's turf (Beacon calls these territories) on the map, inside the district and inside one county or city, 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, notarized page 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 each filing trip, review every page:

• Front and back are on one sheet, and the top of the page is complete.
• Every line has a printed name, signature, full residential address and a date on or after January 1.
• The affidavit is signed by the circulator and fully notarized after the last signature.
• Your count is at least the minimum for your office, with ELECT's recommended margin of one and a half times. To confirm your number, see how many signatures you need to run for office in Virginia.

Then file. The first petition page goes in with your Declaration of Candidacy (form ELECT-505/520) and, for a primary, the filing fee receipt, and later pages may follow during the window. Primary candidates file with the party chair between noon on Monday, March 15 and 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 1, 2027; independent and school board candidates file with the general registrar by 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15, 2027 (both based on state law). ELECT says pages must be received by the deadline, a postmark does not count, and all signatures must be originals. Keep a copy of every page.

After you file

If the general registrar finds an independent candidate's petition short, the candidate may appeal within five calendar days of the notice, with a notarized notice of appeal (§ 24.2-506; 1VAC20-50-30). Keep that week clear.

A signature on your petition is not permission to text the signer, and the form cannot be altered to ask for it. Keep a separate sign-up sheet 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 Virginia covers the campaign that follows filing.

Put your petition turf on a map

A correctly completed, correctly notarized page 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 January 1.