How to dodge annoying signature gatherers

It’s a common tale of woe. You just want to go to the store, get in and out, and cross an errand off a to-do list.

But then they show up: Signature gatherers wanting your precious John Hancock for a cause.

“Democracy sometimes rears its unattractive head as you write your name down on a piece of paper,” said KIRO Radio’s John Curley.

Grocery chain Fred Meyers recently took one petitioner to court over harassment outside one of its stores. The store’s manager went out to discuss complaints customers were expressing over the petition gatherer’s presence. The manager, who is of Vietnam descent, was met with a hostile response, as KING 5 reported.

“Well, if we were in Vietnam, you’d probably drag me behind the building and shoot me,” the signature gatherer reportedly told the manager.

A King County court ruled in favor of Fred Meyer and banned the signature gatherer and the petition management company he worked for, from any Fred Meyers in the county.

“They will shout at our customers. They will step in front of them and try to block their way into the store. Whatever they can do to wear the customer down,” Fred Meyer Community Affairs Manager Melinda Merrill told KING 5.

But Fred Meyer isn’t alone. KING 5 reports that there has been an increase in complaints from retailers over the signature gatherers.

Scott Waller was one such customer who submitted a complaint. Waller said that after he recently refused to sign a petition while walking into a Kent Safeway, the signature gatherer cursed at him in front of his wife and two daughters.

Co-host Tom Tangney noted that often signature gatherers are paid per signature, and therefore, there is an incentive to be aggressive to get folks to sign.

“Tim Eyman is one of these guys who says ‘this is democracy,'” Tangney noted. “As a rule, it’s counterproductive; you don’t want to look insulting to the people you are trying to cull favor with. [Stores] often call the cops, but the cops don’t want to get involved because it’s a gray area between free speech rights and private property.”

“You can actually get court relief if you are a business owner, but it would be too costly to have to do this for every single instance, for every single person you are dealing with,” he said. “So they are trying to find a compromise and one of the compromises suggested is that in Oregon &#8212 and this got voter approval in Oregon &#8212 petitioners have to register with the state and they can only be paid by the hour. That reduces the aggressive tactics, you are just being paid to be there and not for the number of signatures.”

For Curley, the issue has a simple solution. It’s private property. Signature gathers don’t have any right to be on private property.

“The piece of property out in front of a Fred Meyer is owned by Fred Meyer. You have to get permission from Fred Meyer to stand on their property and solicit petitions,” Curley said. “It seems like an open and shut case.”

What to do with signature gatherers

Still, signature gatherers remain posted on street corners and in front of stores. So what do Tom and Curley do when they encounter such a petitioner?

“What I do is make eye contact with them, nod toward them, and just keep moving if I don’t want to sign,” Tom said.

Simple. But Curley takes another approach.

“If I got time, I’ll listen to the spiel. I like the spiel, people, I like sales,” Curley said. “And then you engage them a little bit and you realize that a lot of them have no idea what they are pushing. That’s the thing, and they can only give you two lines on what it’s about.”

“I can always go, ‘I am an on-air individual, I have a radio show on KIRO and I can’t express my opinions,’ and they will be like ‘OK, fine,'” he said.

Radio listeners wrote in and suggested telling the gatherers that you don’t live in the jurisdiction, aren’t a registered voter, or say you’ve already signed the petition elsewhere.