Abuses › Petition signature fraud

Petition signature fraud

Fabricating or forging signatures on a petition that carries legal or electoral weight -- a citizen ballot initiative or referendum, a candidate nominating petition, a recall petition, or similar -- using a real person's name and registration information without their knowledge or consent, or inventing signatures outright, to create the false appearance of qualifying public support. It matters because signature counts are the gate a measure or candidate must pass to reach the ballot at all; falsifying them corrupts that gate before voters ever see a ballot.