Guide 13

Pennsylvania Nomination Petitions: A 2027 Local Candidate Guide

A Pennsylvania nomination petition is the signed form that puts a candidate's name on a party's primary ballot. Pennsylvania's primaries are where the Democratic and Republican parties choose their nominees, so a candidate seeking either party's nomination files a petition signed by registered and enrolled members of that party who live in the district. In 2027 the municipal primary is Tuesday, May 18. Most local offices need at least 10 signatures, including school director, borough council and township supervisor. An inspector of elections needs 5, a magisterial district judge candidate who does not already hold the office needs 100, and county-wide offices need between 100 and 1,000, depending on the county's class.

The window is short and fixed by law. Petitions may be circulated from Tuesday, February 16, 2027 through Tuesday, March 9, 2027, and they are due at your county board of elections by the board's normal closing hour on March 9 (dates based on state law). Each voter signs the paper petition page in person, and each page carries a statement from its circulator (the person who collected the signatures) made subject to the penalties for unsworn falsification. Objections can be filed in court for seven days after the deadline, so collect a margin and confirm your number with your county board before you begin.

This guide takes petition season in order: who files, how many signatures each office needs, the 2027 calendar, the petition page, who may sign and circulate, what else you file, objections, margin, collecting door to door, and filing day. The rules come from the Pennsylvania Election Code (the 1937 Election Code, cited here by section), the Department of State (DOS), the State Ethics Commission and county boards of elections. Dates are computed from the statute because the DOS 2027 calendar was not yet available when we checked.

Who files a nomination petition in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania elects its local officials at the municipal election, held in odd-numbered years. On Tuesday, November 2, 2027, that includes county officers, city, borough, township and ward officers, school directors, election officers, and judges of the courts of record (section 602). Your county board publishes the list of offices on its ballot early in the year.

A candidate for the Democratic or Republican nomination for one of these offices files a nomination petition for the May 18, 2027 primary. A few points shape who files what:

• One party per petition. Each petition names one party, and every signer must be a registered and enrolled member of that party (section 908).
• Some offices may file in both primaries. Candidates for school director, magisterial district judge, judge of the court of common pleas and the Philadelphia Municipal Court do not have to swear that they are not seeking another party's nomination, so they may file in both major primaries (section 910(f)). Each party's petition is signed by that party's own members.
• Sitting magisterial district judges may file a certificate of nomination for reelection instead of a petition (section 912.1).
• Independent and minor-party candidates do not use nomination petitions. They file nomination papers, which have a different form, timing and signature rules. This guide does not cover them, so start with your county board.
• Judges of the courts of common pleas file with the Secretary of the Commonwealth rather than the county board. This guide covers petitions filed with county boards.

How many signatures you need

Section 912.1 sets a minimum number of valid signatures for each office. It does not set a maximum. The table shows the offices local candidates most often seek, with the filing fee from section 913.

No fee is charged for a petition for an office with no pay set by law (school director, for example), for any office in a borough, town or township, or for judge of election or inspector of elections (section 913(b.2)). Your county board can tell you your county's class.

A minimum of 10 is small, but it leaves little room for error. If you file exactly 10 signatures, a single struck line puts you under the minimum. For the full list by office, including city council seats in the largest cities, see how many signatures you need to run for office in Pennsylvania.

The 2027 petition calendar

Every date below is computed from the Election Code, based on state law, because the DOS 2027 election calendar was not available when we checked. Confirm each date with your county board.

The window matters for each signature, not only for the petition. No signature is counted unless it is dated no earlier than February 16 and no later than March 9 (section 908). As a check on the pattern, Berks County's 2026 petition period ended on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, and its objection deadline was Tuesday, March 17, seven days later.

The petition page

Pennsylvania's petition is a single page printed on both sides. The DOS instructions call for 8.5 by 11 inch paper, printed two-sided, head to head, which the DOS filing guide describes as "like the pages in a book." The same guide says pages not printed two-sided will not be accepted. Use the packet your county board provides, and copy blank pages only as exact copies of the originals.

Each page has three parts:

1. The heading. It names the county, the district, the party, your name, your profession, business or occupation, your place of residence, the office and its term, and the year of the primary. DOS instructs that every blank at the top be filled in before any signatures are collected, and that your name appear exactly as you want it on the ballot. A nickname is allowed only if it comes from your legal name.
2. The signer lines. Each signer uses four columns: "Signature of Elector," "Printed Name of Elector," "Address Where Registered and Enrolled" and "Date of Signing." Berks County's 2025 form, as one example, has 12 lines on the front and 18 on the back.
3. The Statement of Circulator. It appears on the back and is completed after all signatures on the page have been gathered.

Signers from different counties must use different pages (section 909). When you file, the pages are bound together and numbered consecutively, starting with number one (section 909); DOS asks that each page be numbered on both sides. We walk through the page and the circulating window step by step in circulating a Pennsylvania nomination petition, February 16 to March 9.

Who can sign

Under section 908, each signer:

• is a registered and enrolled member of the party named on the petition, and a qualified elector of the county and district named;
• signs their own name and legibly prints it;
• adds the address where they are registered and enrolled, with the city, borough or township and the street and number (the municipality may be left off when the district lies entirely within one city, borough or township);
• writes the date of signing, in words or numbers; and
• signs petitions for only as many candidates for the office as there are seats to fill.

The last rule causes more trouble than many people expect. If a voter signs petitions for more candidates than they may, and the signatures carry the same date, none of them is counted once an objection is filed. If the dates differ, they count in date order, only up to the number of seats (section 977).

Who can circulate

Each page's Statement of Circulator states, under the penalties for unsworn falsification (18 Pa.C.S. 4904), that the circulator is a qualified elector of Pennsylvania and a registered and enrolled member of the party named on the petition. It also gives the circulator's residence and states that the signers signed with full knowledge of the petition, that their residences are correctly stated, that they all live in the county named in the statement, that each signed on the date shown, and that to the best of the circulator's knowledge they are qualified, enrolled members of the party (section 909). The county named is the signers' county, not the circulator's (DOS filing guide). Circulators for magisterial district judge, common pleas and Philadelphia Municipal Court petitions do not need to be members of the party.

No notary is needed for circulators. The 2019 amendments to section 909 replaced the notarized affidavit with the statement described above.

DOS has said it is not enforcing the in-state residency requirement for an out-of-state circulator who completes the Supplemental Statement of Out-of-State Circulator, following a 2022 federal appeals court decision. DOS also notes that a voter may still raise residency in an objection, and that a court would decide it. Out-of-state circulators must still be members of the candidate's party.

Paper only, signed in person

We did not find an express ban on electronic signatures in the Election Code. The DOS instructions, however, say "Each signer must personally sign his or her name in the 'Signature of Elector' column," and the petition is a paper page printed on both sides. Plan on every signature being written by the voter, in person, on the paper page.

What you file with your petition

Your petition pages are only part of the filing. Bring these as well:

• The candidate's affidavit. It states your residence and post-office address, your election district, the office, that you are eligible for it, and (unless your office may cross-file) that you are not seeking the same office on another party's petition (section 910). It is notarized. DOS notes that if you cannot get a notarization, you may submit an Unsworn Statement in Lieu of Notarization under Act 2020-15.
• A copy of your Statement of Financial Interests, if your office requires it. The State Ethics Act requires candidates for county-level or local office to file this form with the governing authority of the political subdivision where they are running by the last day to file petitions, and to attach a copy to the petition. A petition without it cannot be accepted, and failing to file it is a "fatal defect" to the petition (65 Pa.C.S. 1104(b)). Ask your county board whether your office is covered.
• The filing fee, if one applies. Pay by certified check or money order, or in cash at the county board. Fees are not refunded for any reason, including withdrawal (section 913).

File with your county board of elections. If your municipality, ward or school district lies in two or more counties, file with the county where most of its registered voters live (section 913(a)). The board gives you a receipt showing the date and time of filing.

Objections: how a petition is challenged

A petition filed on time is presumed valid unless an objection is filed within seven days after the last filing day (section 977). In 2027 that is Tuesday, March 16 (based on state law). An objection is a petition to the court that sets out the specific objections and asks that your petition be set aside, and a copy must be served on the county board within the same seven days. Objections to petitions filed with county boards go to the county's court of common pleas, not the Commonwealth Court (Commonwealth Court notice of July 28, 2026). The court holds its hearing no later than ten days, and decides no later than fifteen days, after the last filing day.

The court sets a petition aside if it is defective, lacks enough genuine signatures of voters entitled to sign, or was filed by someone not entitled to file it. For "material errors or defects apparent on the face" of a petition, the court may allow amendments at its discretion (section 977). You cannot count on that, so prevent problems while you collect. The common ones are:

• signers who are not enrolled in the party named, or who live outside the district;
• signatures dated before February 16 or after March 9;
• addresses that do not match the voter's registration;
• signers from two counties on one page;
• voters who signed for more candidates than there are seats;
• an incomplete or unsigned Statement of Circulator; and
• missing filing papers, such as the affidavit or a required Statement of Financial Interests.

How many signatures to collect above the minimum

Pennsylvania's low minimums can create a false sense of safety. With a minimum of 10, a petition filed with 11 signatures survives only if no more than one is struck. Size your margin to your risk: a first-time candidate in a contested primary, using new volunteers, has more reason to aim high. As an example only, a borough council candidate might aim for 20 to 30 signatures. 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.

Collecting signatures door to door

Three weeks is not long, and many local candidates collect with a small team of volunteers. Door-to-door collection fits Pennsylvania's rules well:

• You know where each signer lives. Working from a list of households in your district, you know the address before you knock.
• You can focus on voters who can sign. Only enrolled members of your party can sign, so a list of registered voters that shows party enrollment lets circulators knock where a signature is possible. Ask your county party or county board of elections how to get one.
• You can keep each page in one county. If each circulator's area sits inside one county, their pages will too.

Turning your target into doors

Start with your target, then track two rates over your first evenings: the share of doors where someone answers, and the share of those who sign. As an illustration only, if someone answers at about one door in three and about half of them sign, each signature takes about six doors, so a target of 30 points to about 180 doors. Adjust to your real numbers as soon as you have them.

Organizing the walk

1. Get a list of registered voters in your district, and confirm the district boundary.
2. Divide it into turfs (small groups of nearby streets) that one circulator can cover in a session, each inside one county.
3. Give each circulator their own pages, with the heading already filled in.
4. Record which doors were visited and what happened at each.
5. Send circulators back to the not-home doors before opening new turf.
6. Collect pages after each session and review every line while there is still time to go back.

Beacon is built for this part of the job. Draw each circulator's turf on the map, inside your district and inside one county, and assign it. Add your contacts, and when a walk list is downloaded its 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, and turf completion percentages and the leaderboard show where to send people next. If a circulator loses signal partway through a shift, the results they enter are queued and sent when the signal returns. The signed paper page remains the only legal record of each signature. Every plan includes unlimited canvassers, so adding circulators does not change your price, and live GPS of circulators is available on the Growth plan and above.

Filing day and after

Before filing, review every page: the heading, each signer line and date, the county on each Statement of Circulator, and the page numbers. Our general checklist on how to check your petition before filing was written for Illinois, but most of its checks apply to Pennsylvania pages too. Keep a copy of everything you file.

After filing, keep the objection period clear and watch for notice of any court filing. If you decide not to run, a written withdrawal, signed and acknowledged before an officer authorized to give oaths, must reach the county board by its normal closing hour on Wednesday, March 24, 2027 (section 914, based on state law). A withdrawal cannot be taken back.

Every door your circulators knocked on is a household you have already met. A petition signature is not permission to text someone, however. If you want to text supporters later, collect that permission separately: never add anything to the official petition page, and keep a separate sign-up sheet that says plainly the person agrees to receive campaign texts, with a dated line. Only people who agreed that way should receive texts. CampaignCNX+, a separate texting product, sends those texts, and its guide to running for local office in Pennsylvania covers the campaign after filing.

Frequently asked questions

Can Pennsylvania nomination petition signatures be collected online?

No. We found no provision allowing electronic signatures, and DOS instructs that each signer personally sign the "Signature of Elector" column on the paper page. Digital tools can help you plan which doors to visit and record which you reached, but signatures go on paper.

How many signatures do I need to run for school board in Pennsylvania?

School director candidates need at least 10 signatures of registered and enrolled members of the party named on the petition (section 912.1). There is no filing fee. School director candidates may file in both major primaries, with a separate petition signed by each party's members.

When can I start circulating in 2027?

Tuesday, February 16, 2027, the thirteenth Tuesday before the May 18 primary. Signatures dated before that day do not count. The last day to circulate and file is Tuesday, March 9, 2027 (both based on state law).

Does the circulator need a notary?

No. Since 2019, each page's Statement of Circulator is made subject to the penalties for unsworn falsification instead (section 909). The candidate's affidavit is still notarized, or replaced by an unsworn statement where notarization cannot be obtained.

Can a voter sign the petition of a candidate from another party?

No. Each signer must be a registered and enrolled member of the party named on the petition (section 908). A Democratic candidate's petition is signed by enrolled Democrats, and a Republican candidate's petition by enrolled Republicans.

Plan your Pennsylvania petition drive with Beacon

Three weeks leaves little time to waste on doors already visited or streets no one covered. Beacon gives your circulators turf on a map, walk lists in walking order by distance and a record of every door's result, with unlimited canvassers on every plan. Start a 14-day trial and have your turf drawn before February 16.