Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Monday, May 08, 2006

Texas: A difference in petitioning strategies for independent candidates

Independents in race for signaturesThousands help Friedman and Strayhorn get names on ballot

By ALEXIS GRANT Houston Chronicle May 8, 2006-- Clint Walker has spent the last two months beseeching Texans to sign the petition to put independent candidate Kinky Friedman on the ballot for governor.
But the first signature he got on a recent Saturday came unsolicited.
He had just set up a makeshift signing station at the Houston International Festival when he was approached by Gary Pace of Seabrook, who asked if he could add his name.
"I've had a lot of people say, 'Hey, we've been looking for you, I'm just tired of having only two people to vote for,' " said Walker, 32, a volunteer with Friedman's campaign.
He's one of thousands of people who have canvassed the state since early March collecting signatures of registered voters to put candidates on the ballot to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Perry. They have until Thursday to gather 45,540 signatures.
Independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the state comptroller, has collected more than 115,000 signatures, her lawyers said last week, though it's not known how many of those will be valid.
Friedman, a musician and author, will not say how many signatures his campaign has gathered so far.
Both campaigns aim to gather at least double the number needed, since more than a quarter of signatures gathered in ballot petition drives usually turn out to be invalid.
Only registered voters who did not vote in this year's Republican or Democratic primaries can sign a petition.
The Friedman and Strayhorn campaigns say they have thousands of volunteers statewide. But because they must collect so many signatures in a short period of time — a requirement that makes it more difficult for independents to get on the ballot in Texas than in most states — both campaigns have also hired veteran petition organizers.
Friedman's effort is spearheaded by Laureen Oliver, founder of the New York Independence Party, who said she oversees about 20 paid signature-collectors who were recruited from the campaign's volunteer base. The campaign pays them $1 per signature, but the bulk of the work is done by volunteers.
"I've never seen such grass-roots support to do such a large petition drive," said Oliver, who has 15 years of experience in the field. "When this campaign is done with this petition drive, Kinky's going to go forward with a force for the whole campaign. This is something you can't buy."
Strayhorn's drive is being coordinated by National Voter Outreach, which pays $2 per signature, and its contractors in the area, including a group called America's Politically Incorrect.
Paying for names
Susan Johnson, president of National Voter Outreach, would not say how many collectors were being paid by Strayhorn's campaign. But Strayhorn's son and campaign spokesman Brad McClellan said he expects paid workers to gather about half of the total signatures.
Johnson's organization recruits largely at colleges and senior citizen centers, and America's Politically Incorrect advertises to find workers. While some workers collect signatures to supplement their income, many do not have permanent jobs.
Signature collectors receive little instruction from campaign organizers other than how to fill out petitions.
Johnson said voters who are unfamiliar with the collection process sometimes feel misled when they find out people are paid to gather signatures.
"I think that people want people out there who believe in something, but the reality is that in our culture today, we don't have that luxury anymore," Johnson said. "It's an industry that has sprung up because the government has made it so dang difficult (to get on the ballot).".....
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