 By 2004 the 12-member group, named Committee to Incorporate Beltsville, advocated for getting the issue on the ballot.By late 2004 the group began efforts to collect 3,000 signatures on a petition so the issue can be put up for election; this would represent about one quarter of the persons in Beltsville who were registered to vote.By the deadline in March 2005 they failed to get sufficient signatures as they only had 2,000.