College groups gather signatures for candidates

The deadline for getting on the ballot for the Pennsylvania primaries is rapidly approaching, and several candidates from both parties have been scrambling to fulfill the necessary obligations.

Tomorrow is the final day for gathering signatures, and candidates have enlisted the services of the Penn College Democrats and College Republicans to ensure that their names appear on the ballot.

Last week, several members of the Penn Democrats stood in Rittenhouse Square for two hours collecting signatures for Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), and this weekend, they spent three hours collecting signatures for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

"We collected about 150 signatures for Kerry, and about 60 for Edwards," said Penn Democrats outreach coordinator Dan De Rosa, adding that his organization would aid any candidate that requested their help.

To get on the presidential ballot, according to the Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation of the Department of State, a presidential candidate must have 2,000 signatures from residents of Pennsylvania.

For candidates for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, only 300 signatures are necessary, but they must come from individuals residing in the candidate's district.

For the primaries, the signatures must come from registered party voters, and both parties acknowledge that candidates need to obtain more than the minimum amount of signatures.

The petitions, they say, will inevitably be challenged in court, and the candidate could lose his or her position on the ballot.

"The hard part about these petitions is that you have to be registered in that party in that district," said Stephanie Steward, vice chairwoman of the College Republicans. "We stood out there just asking people, 'Are you Republican?'"

While the College Democrats have been collecting signatures for the presidential ballot, the College Republicans have been focusing heavily on the local races in which they feel they can make the most difference, Steward said.

The group has collected signatures for a number of candidates, including U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and candidate for U.S. Congressman Patrick Toomey. The group was focusing mainly, however, on the districts around Penn, including the 182nd General Assembly District, which is just across the Schuylkill River in Center City and a heavily Democratic area.

"We can really have a huge impact on the local races," Steward said. "If we don't do these petitions, the Republicans won't have a candidate for these positions."

Steward herself collected between 30 and 40 signatures in an afternoon in Rittenhouse Square, and over the course of the past few weeks, nearly a dozen other group members have been doing the same.

And though Republican President George Bush does not have any competition in the primary season, he will be entered in the Pennsylvania primary. His organization, however, has not asked the College Republicans to help them collect signatures.

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