Collecting and Forging Signatures in Polish Parliamentary and Presidential Elections

The research topic concerns the registration of candidate lists for parliamentary and presidential elections in Poland. A fairly common allegation is made against less recognisable candidates and committees that their signatures were obtained improperly. Proceedings have been initiated against some candidates in these cases following media reports or motions by the National Electoral Commission (PKW). The current signature verification system is based solely on the verification of data by officials of the PKW or delegations of the National Electoral Office (KBW). If a potential forger has our current data, the forgery is almost impossible to detect. Nevertheless, analysis of official documents allows us to identify such phenomena and assess their nature. The proposed paper will present the results of research conducted on the basis of two criteria. Firstly, the analysis covered official resolutions of the State Electoral Commission on PKW , which indicated the reasons for rejecting applications for the registration of lists of candidates or presidential candidates. The official resolutions PKW and the KBW indicate the reason for rejecting each signature. In addition to categories arising from practical reasons, such as an incorrect address, an error in the personal identification number or an illegible signature, frequent items also include signatures of deceased persons on the lists, or incorrect surnames, particularly in the case of women, which in larger numbers suggests that the data was obtained from outdated personal data files and that the women included in them changed their surnames as a result of marriage. The percentage of incorrect data regarding place of residence may also be an indication of whether the signatures submitted contain forgeries. Some of the resolutions also contain more obvious attempts at forgery, such as presenting photocopied lists of signatures or placing signatures on the signature card in chronological order according to the list contained in the Central Electoral Register. The second aspect to be addressed will be to indicate the relationship between the number of persons nominated by committees to the district electoral commission and the number of signatures collected. It is a well-known practice for a committee to make an agreement with a citizen to nominate that person to the commission in exchange for providing a certain number of signatures. Based on data obtained through access to public information, with the exact number of candidates nominated by committees and the declared number of signatures collected, it is possible to make a preliminary estimate of how many signatures one person nominated to the commission translates into. It should be noted, however, that this is not a fixed value, for example as depending on the size of the structures, there are also signatures collected in the traditional way. A comparison of different committees in terms of these two criteria, i.e. the percentage of rejected signatures and the number of persons submitted to the electoral commissions, may be a basis for detecting deviations that are potentially fraudulent.