Introduction

It is hard, but rewarding work to find people who will sign our Justice Party Ballot Access Petitions to enable Rocky Anderson and the Justice Party to be on the Texas Ballot in the November 2012 General Election. In some cases, you can hold an event and ask voters to sign a petition. There is a featured article, "Petition-Signing Events" on this Website that lists events sponsored by members of the Justice Party of Texas who have gone to the trouble of scheduling an event, finding an event venue, publicizing that event, and then striking it rich with petition gold.

Cold Calling

In most cases gathering petition signatures requires what is known in the sales trade as "cold calling". This involves talking to voters who you have never met and asking them to sign your petition. This one-one-one conversation with voters may not be as difficult as you might initially think. Why would voters want to stop what they are doing and sign your petition? Here are a few reasons, which can also serve as the opening line when you first begin your conversation with a voter:

• "Would you help me provide another choice on the ballot?" You are providing that voter with an additional choice on the ballot that they would not otherwise have if they had not signed your petition.
• "Would you help me get a new political party on the ballot in Texas to compete with the existing political parties?" Most voters believe that competition is a good thing and that the existing political parties have become lazy and complacent.
• "Would you help me to fix our broken political system by putting a new choice on the Texas ballot?" Most voters understand that the current system is broken"
• "Would you help me get a new political party that wants to remove the excessive influence of money out of politics?"  Voters understand at a gut level that the role of money is the main problem in politics. The theme of countering the excessive influence of money in our political system is the reason why the Justice Party exists.

Each Signature Collector has to say what is comfortable to him or her. The message you communicate most be sincere, authentic, and honest. Don't be manipulative. Voters in Texas appreciate straight-talk. Alhough we are using he sales term "cold calls" here, this is not a sales call. You are not being paid to gather signatures. You are gathering signatures because you believe that Rocky Anderson and the Justice party have the solutions this nation needs. When you gather signatures, think only of the voter in front of you, not of the magnitude of the total number of signatures that our Petition Drive must gather..

In the end, we will be successful if we treat each voter's decision to sign our petition as a precious gift, which is called Consent of the Governed which is the basic principle that underlies our democratic system of government.  Democracy starts here.  The will of the voters to choose which political party and candidates will be given the privilege of serving them is truly a nugget of gold.

Places to Mine for Petition-Signers

When searching for places to gather signatures, you will need to find events where large crowds of people will be congregating. There are many community event calendars that are published. Public radio stations, newspapers, farmers' markets, rural electric cooperative magazines, and state-publications such as Texas Highways. Just enter "community events " in the search engine of your choice, and you will find plenty of venues where you can gather signatures. Some event venues are sensitive to what they call "soliciting" so if permission is needed, be sure to obtain it.

If you think there is an event that is especially promising for our Signature Collectors to attend, please go here and fill out the form notifying other Justice Party of  Texas members where and when a good event  for them to mine for petition-signers will be taking place. Your event leads will be published here.

Best wishes and Good Mining for Petition Gold!