Petitioning overview
All candidates and slates and many Special Fee groups must petition to get on the ballot for the ASSU Election in Spring Quarter.
For candidates
The petition process ensures that only those candidates on the ballot have shown some level of commitment. It's generally not, and not intended to be, a significant hurdle for prospective candidates. You should use this time to meet other people who are interested in running, acquaint yourself with campus issues, and get comfortable discussing them with other students.
Starting to collect signatures, or even submitting a complete petition, does not obligate you to run; you can withdraw at any time by contacting the Elections Commission. You can also start collecting signatures whenever, just as long as you have them in by the deadline. In past years, many successful candidates did not start petitioning until a few days before the deadline.
For groups seeking Annual Grants and Special Fees
Petitioning ensures that Annual Grant and Special Fee requests on the ballot are in line with what students' wants, giving students more input into the process than the all-or-nothing, yes-or-no vote they have on the ballot. It's also an opportunity for you to explain to students what your group does and how your group will use the fee request to benefit campus.
Deadline
The petition deadline is February 19th at 11:59 PM. Within a week after the deadline, the Elections Commission will verify all petitions and post the results publicly on this site.
How to petition
Candidates, slates, and Annual Grant & Special Fee requests may petition online through a website provided by the ASSU Elections Commission.
Candidate/slate online petitions
You can start a petition at the Voter Guide petition site (managed by the Elections Commission) and collect signatures online. Once you sign up, you'll be given an address where people can go to sign your petition.
If you need to change any of the information you entered when you created the petition, such as your slate name, etc., contact us. You can just create another petition with the correct info yourself if you haven't gathered many signatures yet. If you want to change the members of your slate, you have to toss out all the signatures on your previous slate and start over. If you would like your petition to remain private, accessible only to those who have the link and not listed in the public list of open petitions, email us before creating the petition.
Candidate/slate paper petitions
These are not allowed.
Annual Grant & Special Fee request petitions
This will be updated soon. Please see the petitions website for details until then.
Petition Requirements
| Position | # signatures |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate Senator | 100 undergraduates |
| Undergraduate Class President slate | 100 undergraduates |
| Executive | 200 students combined (graduate + undergraduate) |
| GSC candidate | No petition required |
| Annual Grant | 15% of the undergraduate population |
| Graduate Special Fee | 10% with approval, 15% without (graduate) |
| Joint Special Fee | 10% with approval, 15% without (graduate and undergraduate separately) |
To be eligible for public financing, Executive slates must collect at least 300 signatures, including 100 undergrad signatures and 100 grad signatures, to demonstrate a broad base of support. Groups seeking an Annual Grant do not need to petition if they have legislative approval unless they disagree with the approved amount. Groups seeking Special Fees have their own set of requirements to not need approval.
Valid signatures
For a signature to be valid, it must:
- be from a current Stanford student;
- not be gathered during class or in interference of a University function; and
- be collected on the Elections Commission petition site or through another approved means.
To comply with Residential Education's no-solicitation policy, if you petition door-to-door in a residence other than your own, we require that somebody who lives in that residence accompany you at all times. Any signatures collected in violation of this are invalid. If we receive complaints from students about door-to-door petitioning, we will forward them to ResEd.
Validation
The Elections Commission will verify that the signatures collected on your petitions are valid. You should collect more than the minimum required number in case some of your signatures are accidentally invalid.
Constitution and Joint Bylaws
The final authority on all matters is always the ASSU Constitution and Joint Bylaws.