BALLOT MEASURE 7 · 14,820 DOORS VISITED · 22 DAYS LEFT

Petition canvassing app that routes your circulators to every door on the list.

Beacon manages the field side of a petition drive, including canvassing (going door to door to ask voters to sign). You draw the areas to cover and assign gatherers (the people who carry the petition sheets, also called circulators). Each gatherer gets a walk list in route order and records what happened at every door. The dashboard shows progress toward your door goal as the results come in. The signatures themselves go on your paper petition sheets, not in the app.

Start free trial → Try the demo

For: Ballot & recall drives
Gatherers: Unlimited
Free trial: 14 days

MEASURE 7 · 67% TO DOOR GOAL

Beacon dashboard showing progress toward a goal of 22,000 doors, with doors knocked, contacts reached, active canvassers, daily door activity, and the split of door results

Paper petitions

Petition canvassing software for drives where every signature goes on the paper sheet.

In many states, including Illinois, petitions must be signed in ink on the official paper form, and Beacon does not collect signatures. Your gatherers carry the paper sheets, and Beacon records which doors they visited and what happened at each one. Please check your state's rules before the drive begins.

Walk lists Doors for each gatherer, in route order
Door results Contacted, not home, refused, come back later
Survey answer Yes or no: signed the paper sheet
Territories Areas drawn on the map and assigned to gatherers
Offline mode Saved on the phone, uploaded when signal returns

A petition gatherer holds a clipboard while a signer adds their signature

The platform

Petition canvassing app that keeps the campaign manager and gatherers on the same record.

Every door result is saved to the same record the campaign manager sees on the dashboard. As a result, the manager can see which streets are finished and which still need a gatherer, without collecting a report from each person at the end of a shift.

/01, DESK

Campaign console

The office screen where you set a door goal, draw the areas to cover, assign gatherers, and follow progress as it grows. The campaign manager checks this dashboard, which shows the days remaining, through the final week of the drive.

Door goal with daily activity tracking
Territories drawn on the map
Gatherer assignment by territory
Live feed of door results as they come in

/02, DOOR

Petition canvassing app for gatherers

The phone app for gatherers. It holds the walk list in route order, the door result buttons, your survey questions, and a queue of records waiting to upload. Anything recorded without cell signal is saved on the phone and uploaded when the connection returns.

Walk list in route order
Door result buttons and notes
Survey question: signed the paper sheet, yes or no
Works offline · basements and rural roads

/03, MAP

Live goal tracking

Each door result updates the dashboard as it happens. It shows doors knocked toward your goal, the daily activity, and a ranking of gatherers, so no one needs to run a report.

Doors knocked vs. door goal
Daily door activity chart
Top-performing gatherers + regions
CSV export of survey answers for your own records

How a drive runs

Ballot petition canvassing from kickoff to filing in four steps.

The steps are the same for a 4,000-signature charter amendment and a 250,000-signature statewide ballot initiative. Most drives can finish the setup in an afternoon.

/01

Set the goal & area

Enter a door goal for the drive and draw the area you need to cover on the map. The contacts inside that area become the walk lists for your gatherers.

/02

Draw gatherer territories

Draw territories around the neighborhoods you need, such as precincts, wards, or townships. Then assign gatherers to each one, and their walk lists appear on their phones.

/03

Knock & record

At each door, the gatherer asks the voter to sign the paper sheet. The gatherer then records the door result and answers the survey question about whether the person signed.

/04

Check progress before filing

The dashboard shows how many doors were visited. A CSV export of the survey answers, with the gatherer and date for each door, shows how many people said they signed. Your team still counts, reviews, and files the paper sheets according to your state's rules.

Drive types

Petition canvassing app for every type of drive and every deadline.

A statewide ballot initiative and a recall petition have different filing requirements. You set up the territories and survey questions in Beacon for each drive, so the same account handles both.

Ballot initiative

Ballot initiative canvassing, statewide and local.

These drives have a firm target and a firm deadline. Beacon sends gatherers to the doors in each territory, and the dashboard shows the daily door activity and the days left before the deadline.

Records: Door result · Date · Territory · Signed paper sheet Y/N

TERRITORYAreas drawn by county, district, or precinct
PROGRESSDoors knocked toward your goal, updated live
SURVEYYes or no answer: signed the paper sheet
EXPORTCSV of survey answers for your own count

Recall campaign

Recall and removal petition canvassing.

Recall drives usually have less time and more pressure. Walk lists in route order, live door results, and a count of the days left help gatherers cover more doors before the deadline.

Records: Door result · Support level · Signed paper sheet Y/N · Follow-up

ROUTEWalk list in route order for each gatherer
TRACKINGLive GPS location of gatherers on Growth and higher plans
COUNTDOWNDays left before the deadline on the dashboard
REVISITCome-back-later doors marked for a second visit

Candidate qualification

Candidate qualification and ballot access.

For independent candidates, primary candidates, and minor parties. In Illinois, candidate petitions are signed in ink on the official paper sheet, and each sheet carries a notarized circulator statement. Beacon routes your gatherers through the district and records which doors they visited.

Records: Door result · District · Signed paper sheet Y/N · Notes

DISTRICTTerritories drawn to match the district
PAPERSignatures stay on the official paper sheet
CIRCULATORCirculator statement notarized on paper, outside Beacon
PROGRESSDoors visited and yes answers, by gatherer

Drive FAQ

Petition canvassing app FAQ: questions campaign managers ask before they sign up.

/Q, FILING

Does Beacon collect petition signatures?

No. Beacon does not collect, verify, or store signatures. In many states, including Illinois, voters sign in ink on the official paper petition form. Beacon routes your gatherers and records what happened at each door. Please check your state's filing rules.

/Q, RESULTS

Can we record who signed the paper sheet?

Yes. Add a yes or no survey question, such as "Signed the paper petition?", and the gatherer answers it at each door. Beacon saves the answer with the door result, and you can export the answers as a CSV file. The paper sheets remain the official count.

/Q, OFFLINE

Does it work in areas with no cell signal?

Yes. The mobile app keeps working without cell signal. Door results are saved to the phone and uploaded to the server when the connection returns, so the gatherer does not lose the entry. It works in basements, apartment hallways, and rural areas with no signal.

/Q, PRICING

Is pricing per gatherer?

No. Pricing is based on the number of contacts (each person on your walk lists counts as a contact), not the number of gatherers, so 5 paid gatherers or 500 volunteers cost the same. There are six tiers, from Starter at $59 up to Enterprise at $599.

/Q, TRACKING

Can I see where my gatherers are working?

Yes. On the Growth plan and higher, live GPS tracking shows each gatherer's location on the map during a shift. On every plan, the dashboard shows which doors have been visited and what happened at each one.

/Q, SETUP

How quickly can a drive start?

Most drives are knocking on doors within three days of signing up. The account is live the same day, the territories are drawn during onboarding, and gatherers download the app the same afternoon. White-glove onboarding ($249 to $999) is available for drives with a close deadline.

Start canvassing

Send your first petition gatherers out this week.

Open an account, draw your territories, and set a door goal. Within a few days, your gatherers will be at the doors with paper petition sheets in hand and walk lists on their phones, and the campaign dashboard will show their progress as they go.

Start free trial → Try the demo

Setup: Same day
Onboarding: Real person, not a chatbot
Free trial: 14 days, no card