Petitioners must sign an affidavit on the petition that creates liability for them, not the signer.
This is perhaps the most important building block that should be included in every state law. The ability to identify each petitioner's body of work is the cornerstone of any effort to analyze and pursue fraudulent signatures.
It should be clear in statute that the circulator will be held accountable for gathering fraudulent signatures. In some states, the voter is held liable for signing improperly, which has zero impact for purposes of discovering and rooting out fraud. For example, if an individual voter signs as Mickey Mouse s/he can be prosecuted for signing improperly. Not only is it unlikely that this individual will be pursued by state or county officials, but it also does not address the far more important problem of systematic fraud.
Placing the burden on the signer also does not take into account that many voters may have their signatures forged. If a petitioner signs improperly on a voters' behalf, current law does not protect the voter; it holds the voter accountable.
Most importantly, it does not provide a mechanism for tracking the body of work of each petitioner. The ability to track each petitioner's signatures and dates is critical to assessing fraud and proving it. If we are not able to prove which circulators have committed fraud or submitted questionable signatures, then there is no basis for bringing legal challenges addressing fraud.
In states where the affidavit is required on the petition but not required as something that must be completed on the petition, this provision is rendered useless (Washington). It should be clearly stated in statute that any petitions that do not bear the affidavit swearing to the legal collection of signatures should not be counted in the final submission of signatures.
