Meek submits 140,000 petitions

A historic and yearlong grassroots mobilizing effort wrapped up on Monday as Kendrick Meek's U.S. Senate campaign submitted over 140,000 petitions to Supervisor of Elections offices throughout Florida to place Meek's name on the ballot.

Florida law allows candidates for office to qualify for the ballot in one of two ways. Candidates can pay a roughly $10,000 filing fee, or collect 112,476 valid petitions from registered Florida voters, regardless of party affiliation or non-affiliation. Meek aims to be be the first statewide candidate to qualify for the ballot by petition.

"Whenever anyone signs their name on a dotted line, it means something. Florida voters from every one of our 67 counties have signed this petition to put my name on the ballot. Traveling to every corner of Florida has taken me into people's homes and introduced me to their lives. People are concerned with the direction of our state, and they want leaders to focus on bringing new, long-term jobs home to Florida. Status quo politicians helped create this economic mess, and Floridians want leaders to transform our economy from recession to recovery," Meek said. "Our campaign is about putting people ahead of the powerful, and we stand today on a mountain of petitions from Floridians who are saying yes to progress and no to the status quo."

Since April 2009, field staff, organizers and volunteers have worked to collect petitions from Florida voters. Meek-for-U.S. Senate field offices are open in Jacksonville, Miami Gardens, Orlando, Tallahassee, and Tampa.

Kendrick signed his petition Monday morning and submitted petitions to the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office. He then traveled to Jacksonville to thank supporters for their work.

In Tallahassee, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman and State Representative Alan Williams submitted petitions to the Leon County Supervisor of Elections Office. In Tampa, former Mayor Sandra Freedman, State Representative Janet Cruz and members of the city commission submitted petitions to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office. In Orlando, Sheriff Jerry Demings and members of the city commission submitted petitions to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office.