Ohio and Pennsylvania petitions

How Many Signatures You Need to Run for Office in Pennsylvania

For most local offices on Pennsylvania's 2027 municipal primary ballot, you need at least 10 signatures from registered and enrolled members of your party who live in the district. That covers school director, borough council, township supervisor, judge of election and most other borough, township and school offices. An inspector of elections needs 5. A magisterial district judge candidate who does not already hold the office needs 100. Offices elected at large in a city of the third class need 100, and county-wide offices need between 100 and 1,000, depending on the county's class. These minimums are set by section 912.1 of the Pennsylvania Election Code.

Those numbers are minimums, and section 912.1 sets no maximum. A signature counts only if it is dated within the circulation window, which for 2027 runs from Tuesday, February 16 to Tuesday, March 9 (based on state law), and objections filed in court after the deadline can strike signatures that do not meet the rules. Collect a margin, and confirm your office's number with your county board of elections. For the full picture of petition season, including the petition page, objections and filing, see our guide to Pennsylvania nomination petitions.

Signature requirements by office

The table lists the minimum number of valid signatures for offices filed with county boards, with the filing fee from section 913. Your county board can tell you your county's class and your city's class.

Section 912.1 also sets 10 signatures for "all other public and party offices." Filing fees are never charged for an office with no pay set by law, such as school director, for any office in a borough, town or township, or for judge of election or inspector of elections (section 913(b.2)). Fees that do apply are paid by certified check or money order, or in cash at the county board, and are not refunded for any reason.

A sitting magisterial district judge does not need a petition and may file a certificate of nomination for reelection instead (section 912.1). Judges of the courts of common pleas file with the Secretary of the Commonwealth rather than the county board, and outside counties of the first and second class they need 250 signatures.

Whose signatures count

A signature counts toward your minimum only if the signer could legally sign your petition. Under section 908, each signer must:

• Belong to your party. The signer must be a registered and enrolled member of the party named on the petition. Democratic candidates collect from enrolled Democrats, and Republican candidates from enrolled Republicans.
• Live in the district. The signer must be a qualified elector of the county and the district named on the petition.
• Sign, print and give a registered address. The signer signs their own name, prints it legibly, and adds the address where they are registered and enrolled.
• Date the signature within the window. No signature is counted unless it is dated between the thirteenth and tenth Tuesdays before the primary. In 2027 that is February 16 through March 9 (based on state law).
• Stay within the number of seats. A voter may sign petitions for only as many candidates for an office as there are seats to fill.

The last rule can cost a candidate signatures. If a voter signs for more candidates than allowed and the signatures carry the same date, none of them counts once an objection is filed. If the dates differ, they count in date order, only up to the number of seats (section 977). In a race for one seat, a voter who signs two candidates' petitions on the same evening may end up counting for neither.

Signers from different counties must also use different pages (section 909). Our post on circulating a Pennsylvania nomination petition walks through the page and the window step by step.

Cross-filing means two petitions

Candidates for school director and magisterial district judge, among others, may seek both major parties' nominations (section 910(f)). Each nomination needs its own petition, signed by registered and enrolled members of that party. That means two sets of pages and two minimums: a school director candidate filing in both primaries needs at least 10 valid Democratic signatures on the Democratic petition and at least 10 valid Republican signatures on the Republican petition. Keep the two sets of pages separate from the start, and brief circulators on which set to offer at each door.

How many to collect above the minimum

Because Pennsylvania's minimums are low, a few struck lines can decide whether a candidate stays on the ballot. If you file exactly 10 signatures, one struck line puts you below the minimum. Objections are filed in the county court of common pleas within seven days after the last filing day (Tuesday, March 16, 2027, based on state law), and the court sets aside a petition that lacks enough genuine signatures of voters entitled to sign (section 977).

There is no rule for the size of a margin. Base it on your risk: how carefully your pages were collected, how experienced your circulators are, and how likely a challenge is in your race. As an example only, a borough council or school director candidate might aim for 20 to 30 signatures, and a magisterial district judge candidate might aim well above 100. Our general guide on how many signatures to collect above the minimum explains how to weigh the risk; it uses Illinois examples, so apply Pennsylvania's rules where they differ.

Turning your target into doors in a three-week window

The circulation window is about three weeks long, so plan your doors before February 16 rather than after it. To turn a signature target into doors, you need two rates from your own district: the share of doors where someone answers, and the share of those people who sign.

As an illustration only, suppose your target is 30. If someone answers at about one door in three, and about half of them sign, each signature takes about six doors, or roughly 180 doors in all. At 25 doors an hour, that is about seven circulator hours, which a small team can cover over two weekends with time to spare. A county-wide candidate needing 250 or more will need a larger team and a firm schedule from the first day. Because only enrolled members of your party can sign, a list that shows party enrollment keeps circulators at doors where a signature is possible.

A clear record of which doors were visited, and which still need a second try, matters as much as the walking itself. Beacon is built for this. Draw each circulator's turf on the map inside your district, keep each turf inside one county, and assign it. Add your contacts, and each downloaded walk list puts its stops in walking order by distance. Beacon routes circulators door to door and records which doors were visited and the result: contacted, not home, come back later and the other door codes. Circulators can note "signed" or "not signed" in each door result's Notes field. The signed paper page stays the legal record of every signature, and Beacon keeps the record of the doors, with unlimited canvassers on every plan.

The 2027 dates that matter

Confirm each date with your county board, since the Department of State's 2027 calendar was not yet available when we checked.

Frequently asked questions

How many signatures do I need to run for township supervisor in Pennsylvania?

At least 10 signatures of registered and enrolled members of your party who live in the township (section 912.1). There is no filing fee for township offices.

How many signatures does a borough council candidate need?

At least 10, with no filing fee. If you file exactly 10, a single struck signature puts you below the minimum, so collect a margin.

Is there a maximum number of signatures in Pennsylvania?

Section 912.1 sets minimums only. Signatures above the minimum give you room to absorb any that are struck after an objection.

How many signatures do I need for judge of elections or inspector of elections?

Judge of election needs at least 10, and inspector of elections needs at least 5 (section 912.1). Neither office has a filing fee.

Plan the doors before the window opens

With only three weeks to collect, the campaigns that reach their number with room to spare are the ones that planned their turf in advance. Beacon gives each circulator turf on a map, a walk list in walking order by distance and a record of every door, with unlimited canvassers on every plan. Start a 14-day trial and have your turf ready before February 16.