- Signer's signature (the only requirement that must be in the signer's handwriting);
- Signer's printed name;
- Signers residence address; AND
- Signers date of birth OR voter registration number.
- Note on date of birth:
In a recent case In Re Withers v. Commissioner Court of Bandera County; No. 04-01-00322-W (Tex. App.--San Antonio 2002), the appellate court held that the lack of the signers date of birth did not invalidate the signers signature on a rollback petition since the voters registration number and additional information indicated that the signer is a registered voter. - Note on residence address:
Signer's residence address must include:- Street address OR address at which mail is received, if residence has no address;
- City;
- State (not required if territory is wholly contained within Texas; and
- Zip code (the omission of the zip code does not invalidate a signature).
NEW LAW: House Bill 3107 (2021) amended Section 277.002 by adding Subsection (f): “The signer's residence address and the address listed on the signer's registration are not required to be the same if the signer is eligible to vote under Section 11.004 or 112.002.” NOTE: This confirms SOS interpretation, which for many years has been reflected in the FAQ.
Reference to "qualified voter" outside the Election Code means "registered voter" as to the eligibility to sign a petition. "Registered voter" is defined as a person registered to vote in Texas whose registration is effective. A registration is effective 30 days after it has been submitted to the county voter registrar. [Secs. 1.005(16) and 13.143]
- The signer's signature is the ONLY information that is required to appear on the petition in the signer's own handwriting. All other required information may be filled in by another person. [Sec. 277.002(b)]
- The use of ditto marks or abbreviations on a petition does not invalidate a signature if the required information is reasonably ascertainable. [Sec. 277.002(c)]
- A petition signature is invalid if the signer signed the petition earlier than the 180th day before the date the petition is filed. [Sec. 277.002(e)]
NEW LAW: This interpretation has now been codified. House Bill 3107 (2021) amended Section 277.0024 by adding Subsection (b): “The signature of a voter whose name appears on the list of registered voters with the notation "S", or a similar notation, is considered valid if the voter: (1) is otherwise eligible to vote in the territory; and (2) provides a residence address located in the territory.”
- A signer may not withdraw the signature from a petition after the date the petition is filed. Before that date, a signer may withdraw the signature by filing an affidavit with the receiving authority requesting that the signature be withdrawn or deleting the signature from the petition.
- A withdrawal affidavit filed by mail is considered filed at the time of its receipt. If the affidavit is received after the petition is filed, then the affidavit has no effect and the signature remains on the petition.
- An effective withdrawal acts as if the signer never signed the petition.
NOTE: An example of a petition which must be filed by a specified deadline is a petition for a tax rollback election. [Sec. 26.08, Tax Code]. If the petition is not filed by a statutory date, there is no election on that date that year. This is in contrast to a petition which may be filed at any time, and if granted, the election is called for the next uniform election date or other election date allowing enough time for the election to be conducted in accordance with law.
Generally, no. Section 277.002(b) of the Election Code states that only the signer's signature has to be in the voter's handwriting for any petition included within Chapter 277. Chapter 277 applies to all petitions authorized or required to be filed by a law outside the Election Code in connection with an election, other than a local option liquor election petition and candidates' petitions. Most statutes do not expressly require the voter's handwriting.
NOTE: As with each situation, although the verifier is obligated to apply statutory requirements, the verifier should be careful not to impose higher requirements than the law prescribes.
No. The Election Code provides specifically for the authorized agents who may apply on behalf of a voter for voter registration. A Texas court noted that there was no similar provision for agents to sign petitions, and concluded that the signing of a petition to place a candidate on the ballot was "personal and not delegable." Sparks v. Busby, 639 S.W.2d 713, 717 (Tex. App. -- Tyler 1982, writ dism'd). Most likely, a Texas court would apply this rationale to petitions calling for elections as well. (For the Witness procedure, See Question 4 below.)
Correct. One spouse cannot sign for another.
Any voters signature need not be legible to the verifier, so long as the printed name and other information is legible. That is the purpose of the printed name requirement. As noted above, another person may fill out the rest of the information. In addition, if a voter wishes to sign a petition but cannot do so because of a physical disability or is unable to read and/or write, the petition may be signed by a witness. The voter must affix his or her mark to the petition. If the voter cannot make the mark the witness must state that fact. The witness must affix the witnesss own signature, printed name, and residence address next to the witnessed voters signature. [Sec. 1.001, Election Code]
This does not invalidate the petition, unless indelible marking is expressly required by outside law, which is very rare.
No, unless specified by outside law. Most laws name an individual verifier. However, if the governing body, as opposed to an individual, is required to accept or reject the petition, such action must occur in an open meeting.
Maybe. Virtually all petitions require the signature of a "registered voter," which is defined in the Election Code as someone whose registration has become effective.
Therefore, someone who has just applied that day will not be able to legally sign a petition until the effective date of registration, 30 days after submission of the application. The most notable statutory exception is the petition in lieu of filing fee, where the signer may sign if they have been issued a registration certificate for a registration which will become effective in the territory on or before the date of the election. [Secs. 1.005(16), 13.143, and 141.063(1)]
Effective September 1, 2005, House Bill 2309 amends Chapter 277.002. The new law applies to petitions filed on or after that date. The petition must have (1) birth date or voter registration number, and (2) the residence address. (Under previous law, the chapter 277 petition was required to have (1) residence address and birth date, or (2) voter registration number.)
Effective September 1, 2005, House Bill 1509 amends Section 141.063 to require birth date OR voter registration number, instead of birth date and voter registration number. This change codifies the following case history.
NOTE: We recommend continuing to apply the case law (striking the VR number down) to any petitions you receive before the statutes become effective on September 1, 2005. We are including the case law history for that reason.
A District Court ruled on September 12, 1997, that the requirement of a voter registration number for a Chapter 277 petition for an election on a measure (proposition) is unconstitutional. (Austinites for a Little Less Corruption! v. City of Austin, United States District Court, Western District, Austin Division, Civil Action No. A 97-CA-120 SS.) Therefore, voter registration numbers are no longer required on local measure petitions. The voter registration requirement has also been declared unconstitutional for petitions for minor party access and for independent candidates seeking ballot access to the November general election ballot, and recently in Fjetland v. Weddington, No. A-02-CA-045-SS (W.D. Tex. Jan. 30, 2002), the U.S. District Court, Western Division struck down the voter registration number requirement for petitions in lieu of filing fee for primary elections.
Also in In re Kevin Bell, No. 02-0034 (Tex. 2002), the Texas Supreme Court held that the inclusion of the city as part of the signers residence address was unnecessary on the petition in lieu of filing fee, as long as the rest of the information on the petition establishes that the signer is eligible to sign the petition. In Re Withers v. Commissioners court of Bandera County, No. 04-01-00322-W (Tex. App.-San Antonio 2002), the court held that the exclusion of the signers date of birth on a rollback petition did not invalidate the signature. Even though the above mentioned cases are fact specific, there seems to be a movement in various courts having jurisdiction in Texas to move away from a strict conformity review process that our office has always in the past advised petition reviewers to follow, and to move towards a less stringent review process to determine whether a signer is a qualified voter and eligible to sign the petition.
In conclusion, you may wish to contact our office for additional information/advice if one of the above petitions is filed with your county.
Accept. NEW LAW: House Bill 3107 (2021) amended Section 277.002 by adding Subsection (f): “The signer's residence address and the address listed on the signer's registration are not required to be the same if the signer is eligible to vote under Section 11.004 or 112.002.” NOTE: This confirms SOS interpretation, which for many years has been reflected in the FAQ at this question.
No. This is a common, but mistaken belief. Most laws require the reviewer to certify that there are either enough signatures or not enough signatures. For example, if there are 100 "good" signatures, and 100 is enough to require the election, it is irrelevant if there are 500 additional "bad" signatures. Most reviewers find it helpful to go through the petition first to count the total "perfect" signatures before spending time on "borderline" signatures.
No. Electronic signatures are not authorized. Signature must start as an original, non-digital, “wet signature.”
Yes, the completed petition may be submitted by email to the filing authority; however, we express some cautions. It is important that the petition pages are submitted all at the same time (unless the law authorizes supplementation expressly, as noted above. We also emphasize that the signature must start as an original, non-digital, “wet signature.” See above question about digital signatures.
We further note that Section 1.007 provides for documents filed under the Election Code. A petition for a measure is governed by a combination of Chapter 277 and the outside “source law” for the petition. Before filing the petition, it is advisable to check with the filing authority that they will accept petitions by email, and the email address they want you to use, especially if the petition is created by a city charter. This will also alert the filing authority to check their email in time to alert the petitioners that not all pages have arrived.
II. Local Petitions
The focus of this outline is petitions for measures under the requirements of Election Code Chapter 277. We have specific outlines for other types of petitions:
Local Option Liquor Election Petition: Local Option Liquor Elections
Candidacy Petitions. Various publications discuss candidacy petitions. At press time, these include the Candidacy for Local Political Subdivisions outline, the Candidacy for County Chairs outlines, and the most recent Candidate’s Guide (currently 2022). These are linked under the Conducting Your Elections pages, or the Candidate Information webpage, or both.
Last Revised: November 2021
- NEW: SOS Modernization Program
- SOSDirect -Business Filings
- Business Copies and Certificates
- Uniform Commercial Code
- Texas Businesses Against Trafficking
- VoteTexas.gov - Voter Information
- Website Policies
- Open Records
- Texas.gov
- Contacts
- Texas State Library & Archives
- Texas Homeland Security
- Where the Money Goes
- Fraud Reporting
- Texas Veterans Portal
- Note on date of birth: