Statewide Coordinator
Oversees the process, communicates with captains, maintains the master count and resolves logistical problems.
Ballot-Access Infrastructure
Establishing a Petition-Gathering System
The immediate goal is 1,500 signatures. The lasting objective is a repeatable system for independent candidates.
Mississippi requires 1,000 certified signatures to qualify an independent candidate for governor. Our working goal is 1,500, providing a reasonable margin for signatures that may not be certified.
At 67 years old, I cannot personally travel across Mississippi and collect every signature. Nor should ballot access depend upon a single candidate doing everything alone.
The Structural Challenge
Independent candidates begin without an organization.
Political parties possess established organizations, workers and methods for placing their candidates on the ballot. Independent candidates ordinarily begin with none of that infrastructure. Therefore, our objective is larger than collecting signatures for one campaign: we need an organized system that can be used now and improved for successive independent campaigns.
50 petition captains × 30 valid signatures = 1,500 signatures
The Organization
A coordinated network with clear responsibilities.
County and Regional Captains
Recruit local volunteers, distribute the correct materials and collect signatures within designated counties.
Uniform Materials
Every volunteer receives the same petition form, instructions, county-labeling system and return procedure.
Central Tracking
Each sheet is logged from distribution through collection, circuit-clerk certification and final return.
The Workflow
From blank petition to certified signature.
- Assign each volunteer to a county or defined region.
- Distribute standardized instructions and petition sheets.
- Keep petition sheets separated by county.
- Record the number of signatures collected on every sheet.
- Deliver each county's sheets to its circuit clerk for certification.
- Collect and securely return the certified petitions.
- Maintain a running total toward the 1,500-signature goal.
We need one person with the capacity to coordinate this effort and volunteers willing to collect signatures in their counties.
Once the system has been organized and tested, future independent candidates will not have to reinvent it. We will have created lasting ballot-access infrastructure for citizens willing to challenge the two-party system.
We are not merely gathering signatures. We are building a system through which independent candidates can reach the ballot and Mississippi voters can receive a genuine choice.