Title: Prepare Petition Lists for Legislators
Original CoS Document (slug): prepare-petition-lists
Login Required to view? No
Created: 2021-04-21 11:41:17
Updated: 2022-09-14 03:00:00
Published: 2022-09-07 01:00:00
Converted: 2025-04-14T20:25:50.028758344
You will use the Legislative Management System (LMS) to prepare a printable, electronic list of all the people who have signed the petition in a single district. This process will also require a spreadsheet program that can handle CSV (comma separated value) data, like Excel or Google Sheets. Be sure to have a spreadsheet program installed before you begin. These instructions assume that you have rudimentary skill in the spreadsheet program. If you feel like you do not have that skill, please ask your SIA to run the list for you.
NOTE: Before you run the list, review your data to be sure any duplicates or errors have been corrected!
First log into https://www.conventionofstates.com and enter your login and password. Then open a new browser tab and in the address bar, enter http://www.coslms.com. (If you haven't been given access to the LMS, contact your SIA.)
Proceed through the following steps to produce the petition list:
- If the black menu list on the left is not visible, click on the icon with the three short horizontal lines in the top left hand corner. Select Legislators.
- In the Search box, type in the last name of the legislator for whom you are preparing the list. Immediately below that, click on the legislator's name that appears in the search results.
- On that legislator's page, right above his/her picture, click on Petitions.
- On the Petitions page, click on Export, then CSV. After a moment, a .csv file will appear in the lower left corner of the screen. Click on the file, and it will open in whatever spreadsheet program you have installed (herein after referred to as Excel).
- In the Excel file, delete the first five columns (Signed Date, State, Upper District, Lower District, CB ID). Widen the remaining columns so you can see the contents.
- Use the Sort function to reorder the list first by City, then Last Name, then by First Name.
- Left justify the Zip column.
- Open the file, “Petition Template.xls.” This has been formatted with a title, a header, and a footer, to make a professional-looking report.
- Copy the data from the original worksheet into the Petition Template. Do not include the column headings as they are already in the template.
- Note how many petition signers are in the list. (Look at the last row number in the first file and subtract one for the header row.) Enter this number in the footer on the right side. Place the correct date in the footer on the left side. Place the District number in the header on the left side. Update the COS resolution number in the heading on the right side (if necessary).
- Save the file as an Adobe PDF. You can now either send the electronic file to your legislators or you can print out copies and hand deliver them.