Michigan, Iowa, Virginia and New Jersey petitions

How Many Signatures Do You Need to Run for Office in Virginia?

It depends on the office. Under Virginia law, a candidate for the House of Delegates or for a constitutional office, such as sheriff or commonwealth's attorney, needs at least 125 signatures of qualified voters. A candidate for the Senate of Virginia needs 250. A candidate for a county or city board of supervisors, council or elected school board needs 125, or 50 when running from an election district of 1,000 or fewer registered voters. Town candidates need 125, 50 or 25 depending on the town's size and whether the seat is at large, and towns with fewer than 1,500 registered voters need none.

The same numbers apply whether you are seeking a party's nomination in a primary or running as an independent (Va. Code §§ 24.2-521, 24.2-506). Virginia sets a minimum but no maximum, and the Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) recommends collecting at least one and a half times the number required. Confirm your number with your general registrar before you start. For the rest of petition season, including deadlines, the notary rule and filing, see our guide to Virginia candidate petitions.

Signature requirements by office

These minimums come from §§ 24.2-506 and 24.2-521 of the Code of Virginia. The last column applies ELECT's recommendation of at least one and a half times the minimum, rounded up.

A few notes on the table:

• School boards. The independent candidate statute covers elected school boards in the same rows as governing bodies (§ 24.2-506). Every school board candidate is nominated only by petition (§ 22.1-57.3).
• Party-run nominations. A candidate nominated by a method the party runs itself, such as a convention, files no petition (§ 24.2-511).
• Election district size. Whether your district has 1,000 or fewer registered voters is a question for your general registrar, who keeps the voter rolls.

The minimum, the recommendation and the cap

Virginia's statutes list "the minimum number of signatures" for each office and set no maximum. So the only limits on your total are your time and your volunteers.

ELECT's candidate bulletin explains its recommendation plainly: "Because not all the people who sign petitions are qualified voters, ELECT recommends collecting at least 1 1/2 times the number of signatures required." Treat that as a floor for your target, not a ceiling. A first-time candidate in a contested race, collecting with new volunteers, has more reason to aim higher than a candidate whose pages were all gathered by one careful circulator. Our general guide on how many signatures to collect above the minimum explains how to weigh the risk; it uses Illinois examples, so start from ELECT's one and a half times recommendation instead of the ranges it mentions.

Whose signatures count

The State Board of Elections regulation on candidate petitions, 1VAC20-50-20, sets out which signatures count. A signature is included in the count only if:

• The signer is a qualified voter for the office. That means a registered voter on the Virginia voter registration system with active status, or with inactive status and qualified to vote for the office. In practice, a signer must live in the district the office represents.
• The signer gives a name and a matching address. The address must match the voter's registration, or be within the precinct where the voter is registered, with the signer reasonably identifiable as that voter.

A signature is rejected if:

• the signer cannot vote for the office;
• the signer is also the circulator of that petition page;
• the date beside the signature is later than the date the notary signed the page;
• the signer did not sign; or
• the address does not match the signer's registration, unless the address is in the same precinct where the voter is registered and the signer can reasonably be identified.

The petition form also tells signers that their signature "does not signify an intent to vote for the candidate" and that they "may sign petitions for more than one candidate."

Small mistakes that do not cost you a signature

The same regulation lists errors that are not fatal if the general registrar can still verify the signature:

• a nickname instead of a legal first name, such as "Bob" for "Robert";
• initials and a last name, if the name and address match a registered voter;
• a printed name on the signature line;
• a missing year, or a missing date that can be placed between the dates of the signers above and below.

These rules help, but a clear, complete line is still the safest. Ask every signer to print legibly and fill in every column.

Mistakes that cost you a whole page

Some problems invalidate every signature on a page at once (1VAC20-50-20):

• the page is not ELECT's double-sided form, or the front and back are on two separate sheets;
• the candidate's name and address, the office or the election district is missing from the front;
• the circulator did not sign the affidavit or give an address;
• the circulator is a minor or a felon whose voting rights have not been restored;
• the circulator did not sign in front of a notary; or
• the notary's signature, reproducible seal, registration number or commission expiration date is missing.

Because one bad page can cost you up to 12 signatures, check every page as soon as it comes back from a circulator. Our post on filling out and circulating a Virginia candidate petition covers each line of the page and the notary step.

Turning your target into doors

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 190 for a 125-signature office. If someone answers at about one door in three, and about half of them sign, each signature takes about six doors, or roughly 1,140 doors in all. At 25 doors an hour, that is about 46 circulator hours. Your rates will differ, so measure them over your first few sessions and adjust.

The doors where nobody answered are where many of your extra signatures will come from, so a clear record of which doors were visited, and which need a second try, matters as much as the walk itself. Beacon is built for this part of the job. Draw each circulator's turf (Beacon calls these territories) on the map inside your district, keep each one inside a single county or city, 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, notarized page stays the legal record of every signature, and Beacon keeps the record of the doors, with unlimited canvassers on every plan.

The 2027 deadlines

Primary filing opens at noon on Monday, March 15, 2027 (based on state law). ELECT had not posted its 2027 candidate bulletins when we checked, so confirm both deadlines with your general registrar.

Frequently asked questions

How many signatures do I need to run for the House of Delegates?

At least 125 qualified voters of the House district (§§ 24.2-506, 24.2-521). ELECT recommends collecting at least one and a half times that, or about 188.

How many signatures do I need to run for sheriff in Virginia?

At least 125, the number for every constitutional office. Signers must be qualified voters who can vote for the office, which for a county sheriff means registered voters of the county.

Is there a maximum number of signatures in Virginia?

The statutes set only a minimum. You may file more, and ELECT recommends at least one and a half times the minimum.

Reach your number with room to spare

Knowing your number is the first step. Much of the work goes into reaching it with signatures you can rely on, from addresses inside your district, on pages that are notarized correctly. Beacon gives your circulators 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 Beacon trial and have your first turf ready for January 1.