Johnson County Election Office | For Candidates | National and State Filing Requirements

National and State Offices - Filing Requirements

Filing Deadlines
General Guidelines
Obtaining Forms
Filing Location
Filing Procedure - Filing by Fee or by Petition
Filing Campaign Finance Reports

Campaign Finance Reports - Deadlines
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Filing Deadlines

June 10, 2008 (12:00 noon) for national, state, judicial, county, township offices and precinct committeemen/women.
August 4, 2008 (12:00 noon) for Independent Nominations.
August 4, 2008 (12:00 noon) for retention of judges

General Guidelines

Candidates for public office may be nominated either by political party nomination or independent nomination. Democratic and Republican candidates must run in the primary and may file by either fee or petition. Candidates of other recognized parties (currently, Libertarian and Reform) do not run in the primary, but are nominated for the general election by the party's caucus or convention. Independent candidates do not run in the primary and may file for the general election only by petition. All non-federal candidates must pay report fees, appoint treasurers and file periodic campaign finance reports.

Obtaining Forms

Petition forms and declaration of intention forms (used to file by fee) for national offices may be obtained only through the Secretary of State's office. Forms for state offices may be obtained either at the Secretary of State's office or the county election office. Forms for county and township offices may be obtained only at the county election office.

Filing Locations

Candidates for national and state offices, for state legislature and for judicial offices file at the Secretary of State's office. The signature on a declaration of intention may be attested at the county election office (except for Governor/Lt. Governor candidates) and the declaration then filed with the Secretary of State's office.

NOTE: The candidate is not considered filed until the petition or declaration and fee are received by the Secretary of State's office. (KSA 25-208) It is the responsibility of the candidate, not the county election officer, to ensure that filing documents are sent to and received by the Secretary of State.

Candidates for county and township offices and precinct committeemen and committeewomen file at the county election office. (KSA 25-208) Precinct committee candidates may have their signatures attested by a notary public rather than the county election officer, but their declarations of intention must be filed with the county election officer. (KSA 25-206)

Filing Procedures - Filing by Fee or by Petition

Filing by Fee

Only Democratic and Republican primary candidates may file by fee. The filing fee is either a set amount or based on a percentage of the salary of the office the candidate is seeking. (KSA 25-206) Gubernatorial candidates file by fee pursuant to KSA 25-4006, and all other partisan primary candidates file pursuant to KSA 25-206.

U.S. Senator - Filing Fees
US Representative - Filing Fees
Governor / Lieutenant Governor - Filing Fees (To be elected in 2010)
Secretary of State - Filing Fees (To be elected in 2010)
Attorney General - Filing Fees (To be elected in 2010)
State Treasurer - Filing Fees (To be elected in 2010)
Commissioner of Insurance - Filing Fees (To be elected in 2010)
State Senate - Filing Fees
State Representative - Filing Fees
Kansas Supreme Court Justice - Filing Fees
Kansas Court of Appeals Judge - Filing Fees
10th Judicial Judges - Filing Fees
Magistrate Judges - Filing Fees
District Attorney - Filing Fees
State Board of Education - Filing Fees

Filing by Petition - National and State Offices Elected on a Statewide Basis

US Senator, Governor/Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Commissioner of Insurance.
Pairs of Democratic and Republican primary candidates for Governor/Lt. Governor must have signatures of 1% of the party vote for Secretary of State in the last general election. (KSA 25-4005)
Democratic and Republican primary candidates for other statewide offices must have signatures of 1% of the party's total voter registration. (KSA 25-205(e)(1))
Independent candidates must have 5,000 signatures of registered voters. (KSA 25-303(b))

National and State Offices - Elected on Less Than a Statewide Basis

US Representatives, State Representative, District Judge, District Magistrate Judge, State Board of Education.
Democratic and Republican primary candidates must have valid signatures of 2% of the party's total voter registration from the district. (KSA 25-205(e)(2))
Independent candidates must have valid signatures of 4% of the registered voters of the district. The petition must contain valid signatures of at least 25 voters but not more than 5,000 voters. (KSA 25-303(c))
Candidates for state board of education (partisan or independent) must have valid signatures of 200 voters of the district. (KSA 25-1903)

Filing Campaign Finance Reports

The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission (GEC) oversees campaign finance and ethics laws for the State of Kansas. This agency monitors the campaign finance and other reports submitted by state elected officials and candidates.

Before receiving or spending any funds in a political campaign, a candidate must file an appointment of treasurer form with the Secretary of State. (KSA 25-4144) This form must be filed within 10 days after the candidate has filed for office, if not before. GEC provides these forms to candidates.

Candidates must file campaign finance reports by the dates listed. Reports must include contributions and expenditures of candidates for that reporting period. Candidates for national office file reports with the Federal Election Commission pursuant to federal law.

Questions may be directed to Secretary of State's Office at (785) 296-4219.

Site last updated: October 2, 2007 10:10 AM

Please send any comments or questions to the developer at election@jocoelection.org or to the Johnson County Election Office 2101 E. Kansas City Road, Olathe, Kansas 66061. Phone: (913) 782-3441. Fax: (913) 791-1753.

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