Up to $5 a pop: Signature gatherers cash in on petitions

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

EVERETT — For two weeks he stood in front of businesses wielding a clipboard and a pen.

Mike Pitts, a tall silver-haired Texan with long arms and a toothy smile, didn’t falter when people ignored or shooed him away.
“I turn around and go to the next person,” he said.

Pitts said he earned up to $5 each for the signatures he gathered for four initiatives seeking a spot on a future Washington ballot. He was part of a swarm of contract workers with clipboards at stores, ferry lines, farmers markets and other high-traffic places in recent weeks.

The swarm is all but gone.

Signatures for three of the four measures will be turned in this week to the secretary of state. To qualify for the November ballot, the sponsors must submit valid signatures of at least 259,622 registered voters. The deadline is 5 p.m. Friday.

Guns, groceries, car tabs and carbon emissions are buzzwords for Pitts, a former massage therapist and bell bottoms salesman. After 10 years on the national signature collecting circuit, he’s got a system.

“I hand them a petition and if they take it, then I hand them a pen,” said Pitts, 64. “I make it short and sweet.”

Time is money and that’s why he came here, pounding the pavement six to 10 hours a day.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/up-to-5-a-pop-signature-gatherers-cash-in-on-petitions/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=e0843be280-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-e0843be280-228635337

If there's one thing that bothers me about paid signature gatherers is that most of them don't know jack shit about the initiative they're promoting.

[Runningdawg]

1. I've worked petitions during lean times

it's a good way to be useful AND make gas and grocery money. Never had one that paid $5 per sig, $3 was the highest I ever got. Still, you get a good petition, find a good spot and you can pull in $25 hour. It's up the person how educated they want to be on the issue. It's been my experience, the more you know, the more you make.

[KT2000]

2. Petitions are made for the uninformed

the gatherers hook people with the buzzwords and people sign with no idea what the petition really says, then vote for the buzzwords as well. Eyeman's secret to success. A necessary evil I guess as there are some I sign.
I had one guy follow me to my car saying just - they're going to tax groceries!