Rep.David Cook says that there’s no real need for the biennial signature chase for lawmakers.
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
The way David Cook sees it, once you’ve been elected to office you shouldn’t have to be bothered gathering signatures on nominating petitions for your reelection.
The Republican state representative from Globe is proposing that incumbents have an alternate option for getting their names back on the ballot: Pay a $250 fee that would go into the state treasury.
HB 2581 won’t help Cook. He’s leaving the legislature at the end of the session.
But Cook told Capitol Media Services that there’s no real need for the biennial signature chase for lawmakers.
He said petitions make sense for someone running the first time. Cook said getting the necessary signatures, which have to be at least one-half of a percent of the registered voters in the district — perhaps in the 300 to 700 range — shows that the candidate and his or her positions has at least some basic level of support to put the name on the ballot.
All that changes, Cook said, once someone wins.
“You have the support, you’ve won the election,” he said. At that point, Cook said, there’s no need to go through the same process every two years.
And if someone does a bad job, Cook said voters have options.
