Ten Rules About Running for Local Government Office

Keri-Lyn J. Krafthefer

So, you've decided to run for local office or to seek re-election? In order to run a strong campaign on the merits, you need to pay attention to the details that, if neglected, can submarine your campaign before you even get started. While we strongly encourage you to seek legal guidance throughout every step of the campaign process, the steps you take before your campaign even begins warrant particularly careful attention. These ten tips, while not a substitute for legal advice, will remind you about some of the potential land mines along the way.

1. Do Not Rely on Forms or Information Distributed by Official Agencies
Laws change frequently, and sometimes election laws have changed in the middle of the election season. While some entities, such as the Illinois State Board of Elections, do a commendable job in keeping the public informed about election-related issues, at times their staff is not adequately prepared to notify everyone who may have received one of their forms which may have changed when it was distributed. Just because a form was valid during the last election cycle does not mean it is still sufficient. The same principle applies to information that you may have received from an election official, such as the required number of signatures for ballot access. Generally, this type of information is distributed with a disclaimer warning that it may be unreliable. If you use an incorrect form or rely on incorrect information, you may be removed from the ballot, depending on the mistake. Please check with an attorney before you rely on any distributed form or information.

2. Have Your Petitions Reviewed Before You Circulate Them
Once you have prepared or procured petition forms or other materials, such as a statement of candidacy or loyalty oath, make sure you have an attorney review them BEFORE you have anybody sign the petitions. It's challenging enough to procure the number of required signatures, much less having to go to voters twice because the first form was invalid. It does not take a long time to have your petitions reviewed before they are circulated, so this is one area in which an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.

3. Train Your Circulators Before They Circulate Petitions
Petitions may be circulated by any United States citizen who is at least 18 years old. However, there are many rules regarding who can actually sign a petition. Make sure your circulators know the rules regarding circulation, such as that they must actually witness the petition signers, that the signers must be registered voters, and the dozens of other rules related to the signing process. Ancel Glink has prepared a list of instructions which can be distributed to petition circulators and used to train them. Make sure your circulators understand the rules before they circulate your petitions. A mistake by a petition signer can invalidate their signature, but a mistake make by a circulator may invalidate an entire page of signatures, or potentially ALL pages circulated by the same circulator.

4. Review Your Campaign Finance Disclosure Obligations
The rules related to campaign finance disclosure reporting can be complicated and confusing. After you have reached a certain threshold for campaign receipts or expenditures, you must form a political action committee, which is subject to numerous rules related to accounting for funds that you receive or expend. While you cannot be kicked off of the ballot for not meeting these requirements, you can be fined for not following these laws. The last thing you need to distract you during your campaign is the allegation of a campaign finance violation and a pending hearing. Know the rules and follow them.

5. Make Sure Your Statement of Economic Interests is Filed in the Same Year as Your Nominating Petitions
Candidates are required to file a statement of economic interests in relation to their candidacy. The Local Government and Local Governmental Officials Ethics Act requires candidates to file this statement with the County Clerk's office, then to file the receipt for that filing along with their nomination papers when they are filed with the local election official. Sometimes, candidates file their statement in December so that they will be ready for the January filing period. However, the appellate court has ruled that such a practice is impermissible and invalidates a candidacy. Make sure that you file your statement of economic interests in the same calendar year that you file your nomination papers.

6. Do Not Notarize Your Own Election Petitions
A candidate may sign his or her own petitions, and may even circulate them. However, under the Notary Public Act, it is a violation of that Act for any person to notarize a document in which they have an interest. Accordingly, we recommend that you do not notarize your petitions, even if the petitions were circulated by someone else.

7. Have All of Your Paperwork Reviewed by an Attorney After it is Completed and Before it is Filed
Once you have procured all of your signatures and filled out all of your paperwork, make sure you have your documents reviewed by an attorney before you file them. Once you file your nomination papers, they cannot be changed, altered, or withdrawn, so you need to make sure they are correct BEFORE they are filed.

Sometimes, a second set of specially-trained eyes can help you find an error while it still can be corrected. We recommend that our clients bring their paperwork to us a week before they plan to file it, to provide for time to go back to correct any errors that may exist. Even if you are an experienced candidate, do not neglect this important step.

8. Make Sure You Keep a Copy of All the Paperwork you File
Often, candidates are so concerned about getting their nomination papers filed, they forget to keep a copy of their own documents for themselves. In the event that a candidate's petitions are challenged, a candidate will need copies of their paperwork to defend against objections. After the papers have been filed with the election official, a candidate may be required to file a special request for copies of his or her own documentation. If you keep a copy of your nominating papers, you can avoid a potential headache later.

9. If You are Running a Full Slate, Make Sure You File a Certificate of Officers who are Authorized to Fill Vacancies
Certain political party candidates are required to run a complete slate of candidates. If you are running a full slate of candidates for a political party, there may be a problem with paperwork for one of the candidates. If such an error results in one of the candidates being removed from the ballot, the entire party can potentially be removed from the ballot unless you have filed a certificate of the party's officers who are authorized to fill any vacancy that occurs during the nomination process. If you file this form, those officers can slate a candidate to fill any vacancy in nomination that occurs and save the entire slate from being removed.

10. If Both Full-Term Offices and Vacancies are Going to be Filled at the Same Election, Make Sure Your Petitions Specify Which Term of Office You are Seeking
Sometimes, public officials resign in the middle of their terms, creating vacancies that need to be filled at an election. If you are running for an office, such as trustee, for a four-year term, and there is also a vacancy to fill an unexpired two-year term that will be filled at the same election, all of your nomination papers must specify which term you are seeking. In the absence of such a designation, your paperwork can be subject to a challenge.

We hope these tips alert you to potential problems that may arise before your campaign even gets off of the ground.

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