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Prospective candidates who are running for town and school boards and committees in the March 31 Annual Town Election must collect a minimum of 50 signatures from Sudbury registered voters to become official candidates and appear on the ballot. Candidates for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee can also collect signatures from Lincoln registered voters.
Without the minimum number of required signatures, they cannot be on the ballot.
Registered voters may sign any number of nomination papers for candidates running for local office. Signing nomination papers is not a commitment to vote for a particular candidate. Signing simply allows a candidate’s name to appear on the ballot.
Prospective candidates must first file an intention to run for office with the Town or Lincoln-Sudbury District Clerk. They must then gather signatures of Sudbury registered voters on their nomination papers and return them to the Town or District Clerk by the Feb. 10 deadline. Once returned, those signatures must then be certified by the Town Clerk. If at least 50 of those signatures are certified as valid, the candidate’s name will appear on the ballot.
Sudbury Town Clerk Beth Klein offered advice to aspiring candidates to help them successfully qualify for the ballot.
“It’s a lot of signatures,” she said. “So, we recommend that candidates start early and get at least 10% more than the 50 required, just in case some of the signatures don’t certify.”
According to Klein, the most common reasons signatures don’t certify is that the signers are not registered voters, are not registered to vote in Sudbury, or the name and address is unreadable.
“We can only certify signatures of Sudbury registered voters, so it’s important to ask signers if they are registered to vote in Sudbury before they sign, and to remind them to sign with the name that they used to register, and include ‘junior’ or ‘III’, if applicable,” Klein said.
She also suggested that voters print their name next to their signature. “It is very helpful when people print as well as sign. We need to verify the signature against the signature on file, and it is easier for our office to certify the signature if the name of the voter is easily readable.”
Klein further recommends that candidates bring in their nomination papers before the deadline, in case they need to get more signatures.
Prospective candidates have until Thursday, Feb. 6, to file an intention to run for office and until Monday, Feb. 10, to return their nomination papers to the Clerk.
People interested in running for office can learn more about how to run here and here.
