Petition form
A petition's job is showing that a specific list of named people support something, in an order that can be verified. Every response here is timestamped to the millisecond and stored with the name attached to it, which turns "people signed this" into a list rather than a vague total. What it does not do is collect a legal signature — nothing in this product has a signature field. What it stores instead is a named, timestamped response, which is enough to demonstrate support for most petitions; a formal or legal petition process may require more than this form alone provides.
The form beside this text is live. Fill it in and submit it — it validates exactly as it would for a real respondent, and saves nothing.
A required radio for public display, not assumed from submitting
Whether a supporter's name may appear publicly is its own required radio field, separate from signing at all — someone can support a cause and still not want their name listed on a public page. No other template here asks permission to display an answer publicly; permission-slip's radio asks whether a child may attend, not whether the reply itself may be shown to anyone else.
Location is optional and freestanding, not required or restricted to a picker
A text field for city and state, left optional, lets a petition demonstrate geographic reach in the CSV export without forcing every supporter through a fixed list of regions — a select field would refuse anyone outside whatever list was built in. Rental-application-form's fields are mostly required for the opposite reason: an incomplete rental application can't be screened, while an anonymous or partial petition signature is still a real one.
No card required.
Petition form
Live previewHow to build this form
5 steps in the editor. Nothing here needs a paid plan.
- Add text and email fields for the supporter's name and contact details.
- Add an optional text field for location — city and state or region — so support across areas is visible in the export.
- Add an optional long text field asking why someone is signing, and a select field for how they heard about it.
- Add a required radio group asking whether their name may be listed publicly alongside the petition.
- Add an optional checkbox for "keep me updated", then export the response list to CSV as signatures arrive, sorted by the timestamp on each one.
Fields in this form
7 fields, using 6 of the 19 field types available.
| Question | Field type | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Short text | Yes |
| Yes | ||
| City and state or region | Short text | Optional |
| Why are you signing? | Long text | Optional |
| How did you hear about this petition? | Select | Optional |
| May we list your name publicly alongside this petition? | Radio buttons | Yes |
| Stay updated | Checkboxes | Optional |
What goes wrong with this form
Specific to a petition form, not general advice about forms.
Assuming a submission means the name can be shown
Someone can support a cause and still not want their name on a public list. Without a separate required radio for public display, publishing every respondent's name by default is a decision the form never actually asked them to make.
A required location field, or a fixed region picker
Requiring location, or restricting it to a dropdown of regions picked in advance, turns away a supporter from anywhere the list didn't anticipate. A plain, optional text field collects real geography without refusing anyone outside it.
No way to tell how someone found the petition
Without a "how did you hear about this" field, every batch of new signatures looks the same regardless of whether they came from a shared link, an email list, or word of mouth — which makes it hard to tell which outreach is actually working while the petition is still open.
Questions about this form
Does a petition form collect a legal signature?
No — nothing in this product has a signature field. Each response is a named, timestamped answer, which is what most petitions actually need to show support; a legally binding petition process typically requires more than any online form alone provides.
Can supporters stay anonymous?
Name and email are required fields as built, so replies are attributable by default — but nothing stops you making them optional in the editor if anonymous support should count too. Public-display consent is asked separately either way, so a name is never shown without that answer.
How do I show that support spans multiple regions?
Add the location field and leave it optional — it's a plain text field for city and state, so an answer like "Austin, TX" or "the UK" both work, and the CSV export gives you a real column to group by region rather than reading free text for geography.
How many signatures can a petition form collect?
Up to 100 on the free plan, 2,000 on Basic, 5,000 on Advanced. A petition likely to reach the free-plan number quickly should set a closing date in Settings or upgrade before it does, since submissions past the cap are refused rather than queued.