That Wonderful Time of the Year! A quick glance at the calendar tells me it is almost here! That wonderful time I look forward to! No, Im not talking about Christmas or New Years Eve, I am talking about the Municipal elections. Just a couple of weeks from now, candidates can file to run for office. The starting date to file your candidacy is January 7th, 2015, and this filing period runs until noon on Friday, February 6th. Who will run this year? Who will not seek re-election? Who wants to run for office? These are the initial questions I am asking myself. What does it take to run for office, you may be asking yourself? It really isnt that hard to file and run for office. There are a few candidate forms you must fill out, and you must meet some basic eligibility requirements, but it is really very easy. If you want to run as either of the two major political party, you can run for the party as you last voted in a primary. At least one of the partys here in Knox County would prefer you ask first, but that is not a rule or law. There are two forms required to be completed to run for one of these partys. A CAN-42 form, the Declaration of Candidacy for Municipal Primary Nomination in 2015 would be one of the forms. On this form, you fill out your name, address, your precinct information, what party, and what elected office your want to run for. There are a few other questions and certifications to complete on this form, but the entire form is only two pages. The other form to complete is the CAN-12 form, the Statement of Economic Interests for Local and School Board Offices. On this form, you would identify your employment, your spouse, your spouses employment, and any partnerships you or your spouse may be involved with, including any position of a Board of Directors, excluding churches. This form is easy and to the point, with only 12 questions to be answered. If you live in a town that does not have a primary, you would complete a CAN-16 form, Town Office Declaration of Candidacy by a Democratic, Libertarian, or Republican Party Candidate When No Town Primary is Conducted in 2015. This form identifies the same information as the CAN-42 form, is only two pages, and would also require the completion of a CAN-12 form. What if you want to run for office, but you do not want to be classified as a Democrat or Republican? You can run as an independent, and you have much more time to get on the ballot. You can file as an Independent from January 6th through noon on June 30th. The process to run as an independent is a little more complicated, but not difficult. You will need to complete a CAN-45 form and CAN-12 form, which are similar to previously discussed forms. An additional form, CAN-44 form, (Petition of Nomination for City or Town Office in 2015), must also be completed. In order to run as an independent, you have to obtain a percentage of signatures of registered voters in an amount equal to, or greater than the number of actual voters from the last election. This number is based upon how many people voted for the Indiana Secretary of State last November. Ok, that sounds a little confusing. Let me break that down... In order to run in Vincennes, for instance, you would need to obtain signatures, from registered voters in your district. The number of required signatures would need to equal 2% of the total voters from last falls election, who voted for the Indiana Secretary of State. If you wanted to run for Mayor, Clerk-Treasurer, or one of two City Council at-large spots, an independent candidate would need to obtain 73 signatures, which equals 2% of the 3650 voters who voted last November in Vincennes. If you wanted to run for one of the five City Council District seats, the amount of signatures is much less. Here is the breakdown of each district: District #1: 6 signatures required. District #2: 13 signatures required. District #3: 15 signatures required. District #4: 19 signatures required. District #5: 25 signatures required. So, you see, it really shouldnt be that difficult to run as an independent. Republican, Democrat, or Independent, you may want to know who currently holds City Council seats. Here is the current list. Also, keep in mind that District II will have a new council member in 2016, because of the recent redistricting. District I: Chuck Sebring Precincts 1 & 2 District II: Ryan Clark Precincts 3 & 4 District III: Scott Brown Precincts 5 & 6 District IV: Ashley Morris Precincts 7,8 & 9 District V: Tim Salters Precincts 10, 11 & 12 At-Large: Duane Chattin At-Large: Shirley Rose I will try to post the blank forms on here later, but you can also pick them up at the courthouse.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 21:43:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015