Monday First Day To Pickup Qualifying Petitions For 2024

Candidates for county primaries can pick up qualifying petitions at their local election commission office.

The petitions ensure candidates qualify to run for perspective positions in 2024. Putnam County Administrator of Elections Michele Honeycutt said candidates are required to get at least 25 signatures from the district or county in which they are running. Honeycutt said that process thins the herd.

“If you have to go out and do the work to get the names to get the office, it’s an incentive to not just come and say ‘yeah, I’m going to be on the ballot’ and not have to do anything,” Honeycutt said. “I think there needs to be a little work.”

Honeycutt said when candidates are done with the petition, the Election Commission goes through and compares signatures they have on file and confirm signers as registered voters. After at least 25 signatures are confirmed, the candidate can be put on the ballot. Monday is the first day candidates could pick up the petition.

“A lot of people will sign petitions that either are not in the school board district that they think they’re in, or they’ve moved and they’ve not updated their address with us, and if that’s the case we may not be able to count it,” Honeycutt said. “Some people think they’re registered, and they’re not.”

Honeycutt said most candidates pick up their petitions early.

“We don’t have a lot of offices running this time, so we won’t have a lot of traffic, but usually there is a lot that come in and get it the first or second day,” Honeycutt said.

School Board Districts One, Three and Five, Assessor of Property and a new Criminal Judge Part Three are open seats in Putnam. Petition deadline is December 14 at noon.

If you put in a petition and decide not to run, the deadline to have your name removed from the ballot is December 21.