Thinking about running for office? We’re expecting more than 700 people to file for office during candidate filing week, May 13 – 17. If you’re planning to run now or in the future, remember that you’ll need to pay a filing fee. This fee is equal to 1% of the office’s annual salary at the time of filing. You can view the filing fees for all 337 positions up for election on our website. Unfortunately, filing fees are not refundable. So if a candidate withdraws, they don’t get their money back. And if they withdraw and re-file for a different position, they’ll be required to pay a second filing fee for the new position.

There is another option for candidates who lack enough funds or income to pay the filing fee. Instead, these can candidates can submit a filing fee petition in lieu of paying the fee. The petition must be submitted at the time they file their candidacy. It must contain a minimum of number of signatures equal to the number of dollars of the filing fee. For example, if the filing fee is $461.08, the candidate must submit no less than 461 signatures of registered voters who live within the district they’re running in. As a best practice, we recommend that candidates who plan to submit a filing fee petition do so as early as possible during the week of candidate filing. It’s also helpful to submit at least 25% more signatures than required. The filing fee petition form can be found on our website. Happy filing!