Signing Petitions – Instructions

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FOLDING petitions is OK (PER SECRETARY OF STATE).
ONLY REGISTERED MA VOTER SIGNATURES COUNT – Check your status here. Voters can be removed from rolls if failing to vote in 2 federal elections (4 years) and failing to respond to mailed confirmations.

DO NOT make ANY other marks. If you make a mistake, just use another line. DO NOT STRIKE, CORRECT, OR LINE MISTAKES. Extra marks, even coffee stains, underlining, doodles, et cetera, invalidate petitions.

  1. Only 1 town may be listed on a petition!
  2. Sign as registered and, if messy, print your name too.
  3. Print your street and number (and apt.# if any).
  4. Leave blank the ward and precinct (prec.).
  5. MARRIED — sign your own name (e.g. Mary Smith, not Mrs. John Smith).
  6. PHYSICALLY DISABLED only — may authorize another person to sign for you.
  7. Start a new sheet after a petition page is half filled to prevent accidents!
  8. TURN IN EARLY BEFORE DEADLINE. Signature sheets must be turned in to town election officials before 5 p.m. 19 November (a Wednesday). Make sure they’re open! Some are open only by appointment. Find your election officials here or for all towns here (on secretary of state website).
  9. TELL US TO GET IT OR SEND IT TO US BY PRIORITY MAIL. Tell us here. Please use priority mail if you send petitions to the address on the petition or to the town election official for the petition – of course certified petitions are best but we’ll take all petitions, certified or not:
    • Petition I (Last Tree Laws c/o K. Beatty), 149 Central Park Drive, Holyoke, MA 01040.
  10. HELP CERTIFY & COLLECT PETITIONS. Legally, clerks can keep sheets till 1 December but we need it sooner to send to the Secretary of State in Boston before the deadline which is 5 p.m. 3 December (also a Wednesday) – just 2 days to gather petitions across the state! Volunteers and donations are sorely needed.
For information on where to legally collect signatures in public spaces, click here.
For information on turning in and reporting signatures, click here!
Last Tree Laws. L.L.C.