I can find no requirement in state statute for signers to write the year of their birth on a candidate filing petitions:
204B.07 Nominating petitions.
  Subd. 4.  Oath and address of signer. Following the information required by subdivisions 1 and 2 and before the space for signing, each separate page that is part of the petition shall include an oath in the following form: Â
   “I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I know the contents and purpose of this petition, that I do not intend to vote at the primary election for the office for which this nominating petition is made, and that I signed this petition of my own free will.”Â
   Notarization or certification of the signatures on a nominating petition is not required. Immediately after the signature, the signer shall write on the petition the signer’s residence address including street and number, if any, and mailing address if different from residence address.Â
Furthermore, when my petitions were given a quick perusal after I handed them over I was shown a list of things the Secretary of State demanded be on the petitions. I was not given this list a few weeks earlier when I was given the petition form by the office staff. In fact, when I was first given the petition form I was specificly warned to read the law before making up my petitions and not rely on the sample petition I was given. Well, the law’s language is clear. There is no mention of collecting a signer’s year of birth. If I have heat stroke this weekend I will blame the Secretary of State who seems to believe that it is her job to police the polls and candidates as though she were Dick Cheney. I’ll bet she’d like a national identity card. Maybe she issued a signing statement when the petition law was passed saying what the law meant.
