Guide 16

Virginia Candidate Petitions: A 2027 Guide for Candidates

A Virginia candidate petition, officially the Petition of Qualified Voters (form ELECT-506/521), is the set of signed pages that puts a candidate's name on the ballot. In 2027, almost every candidate files one. State law requires a petition from every candidate seeking a party's nomination in a primary, of any party, and from every independent candidate (Va. Code §§ 24.2-521, 24.2-506). Every school board candidate is nominated only by petition (§ 22.1-57.3). The main exception is a party nominee chosen by a method the party runs itself, such as a convention, who files no petition. The minimum is 125 signatures for most offices on the 2027 ballot, 250 for the Senate of Virginia, and fewer for small districts and towns.

Signatures may be collected from Friday, January 1, 2027. Primary candidates file their petitions with the party chair between noon on Monday, March 15 and 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 1, 2027. Independent candidates file with the general registrar by 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15, 2027. Both filing dates are computed from state law, because the Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) had not posted its 2027 candidate bulletins when we checked in November 2026. Every page is paper, every signature is an original, and the circulator (the person who collects the signatures) signs an affidavit on each page in front of a notary. Confirm your number and your deadline with your general registrar before you begin.

Every rule below comes from the Code of Virginia, the State Board of Elections regulations (1VAC20-50), or ELECT's candidate bulletins and the petition form itself.

Who files a petition in Virginia

Virginia's November 2, 2027 general election includes all 140 seats in the General Assembly, county constitutional officers (sheriff, commonwealth's attorney, treasurer and commissioner of the revenue), boards of supervisors in 94 counties, school boards in 93 counties, soil and water conservation directors, city clerks of court, and councils and school boards in some cities and towns, according to ELECT's schedule. Here is how each kind of candidate reaches that ballot:

• Primary candidates. Where a party chooses a primary, every candidate for that nomination files a Declaration of Candidacy with a petition (§ 24.2-521). The primary is on Tuesday, June 15, 2027.
• Independent candidates. Every candidate who is not a party nominee files a Declaration of Candidacy with a petition (§ 24.2-506).
• School board candidates. They "shall be nominated only by petition" under § 24.2-506, so they file as independents (§ 22.1-57.3).
• City council candidates in most cities. ELECT notes that most cities hold nonpartisan council elections, and that in those cities every council candidate runs as an independent.
• Party-run nominees. A party may nominate by a method it runs itself, such as a convention, between Thursday, April 29 and 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15, 2027 (based on state law; § 24.2-510). These candidates file no petition, and the party chair certifies them (§ 24.2-511).

Town governing body and school board candidates in towns with fewer than 1,500 registered voters file no petition, and write-in candidates file no ballot access documents.

Which deadline you are on

The primary window runs from the 92nd day to the 75th day before the primary (§ 24.2-522), and the independent deadline is 7:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday in June (§ 24.2-507). Both 2027 dates are based on state law. ELECT's 2025 House of Delegates bulletin directed House primary candidates to the party chair of their House district.

A new rule takes effect January 1, 2027. If an incumbent General Assembly member, local governing body member, mayor or constitutional officer does not file for the primary by April 1, or withdraws by then, anyone else may file until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6, 2027 (based on state law; § 24.2-522).

How many signatures you need

The minimums are the same for primary and independent candidates (§§ 24.2-506, 24.2-521):

The law sets a minimum, not a maximum. ELECT recommends collecting at least one and a half times the number required, because not everyone who signs turns out to be a qualified voter of the district. We explain each row, and what counts as a valid signature, in how many signatures you need to run for office in Virginia.

The 2027 petition calendar

Court challenges must be filed and served at least 65 days before a primary or 90 days before a general election (§ 24.2-546). Signatures dated before January 1, 2027 do not count, and the petition form itself says the date must be "on or after January 1st of election year."

The petition page

ELECT's form is a single sheet printed on both sides. The front holds lines 1 to 6, and the back holds lines 7 to 12 and the circulator's affidavit. If the front and back are on two separate pieces of paper, ELECT will not accept the page. The parts are:

1. Candidate information: your ballot name, full residence address, office sought and district. 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 this line on the 2027 form.
2. The petition signer statement: the county, city or town, the kind of election (general, special, Democratic primary or Republican primary) and its date.
3. Twelve signer lines: printed full name, signature, full residential address (a post office box is not acceptable), date signed, and the optional last four digits of the signer's Social Security number.
4. The circulator affidavit and notary block on the back.

ELECT's instructions say the candidate information and signer statement "must be completed prior to obtaining signatures," and that the form "cannot be altered in any way." We go through each part line by line in filling out and circulating a Virginia candidate petition.

Who can sign and who can circulate

Signers must be qualified voters who can vote for the office, which in practice means registered voters who live in the district. A signature counts only if the signer is on the Virginia voter registration system with active status, or with inactive status and qualified to vote for the office (1VAC20-50-20). The form tells signers that their signature "must be your own and does not signify an intent to vote for the candidate," and that they "may sign petitions for more than one candidate." A primary petition asks for the same thing as an independent one: qualified voters of the district (§ 24.2-521).

Circulators must witness every signature on their pages. The law says a circulator may not be "a minor or a felon whose voting rights have not been restored" (§§ 24.2-506, 24.2-521). ELECT adds that the circulator must be a legal resident of the United States, and may not sign as a voter on a page they are circulating. A circulator who is not a Virginia resident must consent on the affidavit to the jurisdiction of Virginia courts, or the signatures they collected are not counted. Our general post on recruiting and training petition circulators uses Illinois examples, but its approach to briefing volunteers applies in Virginia too.

The notary step

Virginia requires a notary for every page. The circulator completes the affidavit on the back, swearing to their address, that they are not a minor or a felon whose rights have not been restored, that they witnessed each signature on the page, and that they consent to Virginia court jurisdiction, and then signs it in front of a notary. The form warns that falsely signing the affidavit is a felony.

The State Board's regulation lists the notary problems that invalidate an entire page: a circulator who did not sign in the presence of a notary, a missing notary signature, no photographically reproducible seal, or no notary registration number and commission expiration date (1VAC20-50-20). A signer's date may not be later than the date the notary signed, so notarize each page only after its last signature.

There is no electronic signature option for Virginia candidate petitions. ELECT's instructions say all signatures must be originals and that copies of signatures will not be accepted.

How petitions are reviewed and challenged

Primary petitions go to the party chair, who certifies to ELECT, and for local offices to the general registrars, that a review of the petitions found the required minimum of qualified signatures (§ 24.2-527).

Independent petitions go to the general registrar and are reviewed under uniform standards approved by the State Board (§ 24.2-506). An independent candidate may ask the registrar in writing to be told of problems that can still be corrected before the deadline (§ 24.2-505), though ELECT notes that it cannot guarantee a timely answer. If the registrar finds the petition short, the candidate may appeal within five calendar days of the notice, to the local electoral board for a county, city or town office or to the State Board for other offices (§ 24.2-506). The notice of appeal must carry a reproducible notary seal (1VAC20-50-30).

Many problems can be prevented while you collect:

• signers who are not registered, or who live outside the district;
• addresses that do not match the registration record, unless the address is in the same precinct and the signer can still be identified;
• pages printed on two sheets, or with the candidate section left blank;
• a circulator who signed a page they circulated;
• an affidavit that is unsigned, unnotarized, or notarized before the last signature.

How many signatures to collect above the minimum

Because some signatures will be rejected, aim above the minimum. ELECT's own recommendation is at least one and a half times the number required: at least 188 for a 125-signature office and 375 for the Senate. Virginia sets no maximum, so the limit on your margin is time and volunteers. Our general guide on how many signatures to collect above the minimum uses Illinois examples, so use ELECT's recommendation as your starting point instead of the ranges it describes.

Collecting signatures door to door

Door-to-door collection suits a Virginia petition. When you work from a list of households inside your district, each signer's address is already placed in the district. If the district includes more than one county or city, ELECT suggests a separate form for each, so each circulator's area can sit inside one locality. A petition visit is also often the first conversation a campaign has with someone who will vote in June or November.

To turn your target into doors, track two rates over your first few sessions: the share of doors where someone answers, and the share of those people 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, and a target of 190 points to roughly 1,140 doors. Replace the illustration with your own numbers as soon as you have them.

This is the part of the work that Beacon is built for. Draw each circulator's turf (Beacon calls these territories) on the map, inside your district and inside one county or city, and assign it to that circulator. 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. The circulator can note "signed" or "not signed" in the door result's Notes field, and turf completion percentages and the leaderboard show which areas still need work. If a circulator loses signal partway through a shift, the results they enter are queued and sent when the signal returns. The signed and notarized paper 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 in the field is available on the Growth plan and above.

Filing day

• Where: primary candidates file with the party chair; independent candidates file with the general registrar of the county or city where they live.
• What goes with the first page: your Declaration of Candidacy (form ELECT-505/520), signed before a notary or two witnesses who are registered voters of the district, and for primary candidates the receipt for the filing fee. Later pages may follow during the window.
• When: ELECT says declarations and petition pages must be received by the deadline, and a postmark does not count.

Before you go, review every page: both sides on one sheet, the candidate section complete, every line signed and dated with a full address, and the affidavit signed and notarized after the last signature. Our general checklist on how to check your petition before filing was written for Illinois, but most of its checks apply to Virginia pages. Keep a copy of every page and your own count.

After you file

Watch for any notice from your party chair or general registrar, and keep the five days after a notice clear in case you need to appeal. After that, your attention turns to the campaign, and every household your circulators visited is one you have already met.

A signature on a Virginia petition is not permission to text someone, and ELECT says the form cannot be altered, so never add a phone or texting line to it. Keep a separate sign-up sheet that says plainly the person agrees to receive campaign texts, with a dated line, and text only people who agreed that way. CampaignCNX+, a separate texting product, can send those texts, and its guide to running for local office in Virginia covers the campaign after filing.

Frequently asked questions

Can I collect Virginia petition signatures online?

No. ELECT's instructions require original signatures and say copies of signatures will not be accepted, and the circulator must witness each signature and sign a notarized affidavit on every page. Digital tools can help you plan which doors to visit and record which ones you reached, but the signatures go on the paper form.

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

For a county or city school board, 125, or 50 if you run from an election district of 1,000 or fewer registered voters. Town school boards follow the town tiers (§ 24.2-506). ELECT recommends collecting at least one and a half times the minimum.

Does a Virginia petition need to be notarized?

Yes. The circulator signs the affidavit on each page in front of a notary, and a page without a proper notarization, including the notary's reproducible seal, registration number and commission expiration date, is invalid (1VAC20-50-20).

When can I start collecting signatures for 2027?

On Friday, January 1, 2027. The date beside each signature must be on or after January 1 of the election year.

Do party nominees need a petition?

Primary candidates do, whatever their party. A party nominee chosen by a method the party runs itself, such as a convention, does not, because the party chair certifies the nomination (§ 24.2-511).

Plan your Virginia petition drive with Beacon

A strong petition comes from visiting the right doors, keeping each page inside one locality, and knowing which streets still need a visit. 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 first turf drawn before January 1.