Michigan, Iowa, Virginia and New Jersey petitions

Filling Out and Circulating an Iowa Nomination Petition

Iowa nomination papers have two parts: the petition pages that voters sign, and the affidavit of candidacy that the candidate signs in front of a notary. Before anyone signs, the candidate header at the top of every petition page must be complete, including the ward or director district number when the seat has one. Each signer then writes a signature, a home address with house number, street and city, and the date. Community college signers also write their school district. When the pages are full, you bind them into one bundle and file them with the notarized affidavit by 5 p.m. on the last day of your window: Thursday, August 26, 2027 in cities with primary provisions, or Thursday, September 16, 2027 for everyone else.

This post follows those steps in order, using the Iowa Code (cited by section) and the Iowa Secretary of State's candidate guides. Follow the labels on the form your county auditor gives you. For signature numbers, filing windows and objections, see our guide to Iowa nomination petitions.

Step 1: Get the current forms

The petition and the affidavit of candidacy are Secretary of State forms. Every petition page is 8.5 by 11 inches and must be in substantially the form the Secretary of State prescribes (45.5). The Secretary of State's 2023 school election guide listed separate petition forms for school district candidates and for community college candidates, so make sure you have the one for your office.

Ask your county auditor for the 2027 versions. A 2026 state law, House File 2501, moved city and school board filing to the county auditor's office, so instructions printed for earlier elections may name a different filing office. Community college candidates should also check with the college's board secretary, who receives their papers under Iowa Code 260C.15.

Print more pages than you think you need, so each volunteer can carry their own.

Step 2: Complete the header on every page before anyone signs

Signatures on a page count only if the required information is written or printed at the top of that page (45.5). Fill it in before the first voter signs, on every page.

The header has these parts:

1. The candidate's name, printed exactly as it should appear on the ballot, with no parentheses, quotation marks or titles such as Dr. or Mrs.
2. The office sought, including the ward number for a ward seat, or the school district and director district number for a director district seat. A page that lacks a needed ward or director district number cannot be counted.
3. The type and date of the election: the regular city and school election on Tuesday, November 2, 2027.
4. The statement of the signers and the candidate. Each page must carry the Secretary of State's statement that the undersigned are eligible electors of the appropriate district and that they believe the candidate is or will be a resident of it, as required by law.
5. The candidate's county and city of residence, which the state guides say should also appear.
6. The vacancy box. The state guides ask whether you are running to fill the rest of an unexpired term, for example after an officeholder resigned and someone was appointed. Ask your city clerk, school district office or county auditor if you are unsure.

The state guides suggest a simple method: complete the header on one page and copy that page, so every header is identical. Nothing may be added to a petition header once signatures are on the page, so check each copy before it goes out.

Step 3: The signer lines

Each line belongs to one signer. The rules for each line come from Iowa Code 376.4, 277.4, 260C.15 and 45.5, and from the state guides:

• A signature. The state guides say the signature may be printed.
• A home address with house number, street and city. A post office box alone is not enough, and a partial address is not counted. A signer who is homeless may describe where they live or write "homeless."
• The date of signing.
• The school district, for community college petitions. Lines without it cannot be counted.
• An eligible elector of the right area. For a ward seat elected only by the ward, the signer must live in the ward when signing. For a director district seat elected only by that district, the signer must live in the director district. Signers for citywide or district-wide seats may live anywhere in the city or school district.
• Nothing crossed out. A line with any required information crossed out or redacted when filed is not counted.

Ditto marks, for example under a repeated city name or date, do not by themselves invalidate a line, according to the state guides. A person may sign petitions for more than one candidate for the same office, and you may sign your own petition if you are an eligible elector of the district. An eligible elector meets every requirement to register to vote but does not have to be registered. The signer must still qualify when you file, so a signer who moves away before filing day may not count.

Step 4: Circulating, with habits that protect each page

The person who carries the pages and collects signatures is often called a circulator. The Iowa Code sections for these petitions do not require the circulator to sign a statement or have the pages notarized, but a careful circulator still prevents most lost lines. A few habits help:

• Keep the pages with you. Do not leave a page on a counter or with a neighbor to collect signatures later.
• Confirm the address first. Before someone signs, confirm that they live inside the ward or district. An address plainly outside it will not be counted.
• Read each line before the signer leaves. Check for the house number, street, city and date, and on community college petitions the school district.
• Do not cross things out. If a signer makes a mistake, have them use a new line rather than crossing out required information.

Check each volunteer's first page yourself. Our general post on recruiting and training petition circulators uses Illinois examples, but its approach to briefing volunteers works in Iowa too.

Step 5: Plan the drive door to door

Door-to-door collection suits an Iowa petition. Working from a list of registered voters in your ward or district, each signer's address is already placed inside the district, which helps prevent lines from being struck for addresses outside it. Ask your county auditor how to obtain that list.

This is where Beacon helps. Draw each volunteer's turf on the map, inside your ward or district, and assign it. Add your contacts, and when a volunteer downloads their walk list, the stops are in walking order by distance. Beacon routes circulators door to door and records which doors were visited and the result at each one: contacted, not home, refused, come back later and the other door codes. At each door, the circulator can note "signed" or "not signed" in the door result's Notes field. Send volunteers back to the not-home doors before opening new turf. The signed paper is the only legal record of each signature; Beacon keeps the record of the doors. Every plan includes unlimited canvassers, so you can add volunteers without changing your price.

To set your target, see how many signatures you need to run for office in Iowa.

Step 6: Complete and notarize the affidavit of candidacy

The affidavit is filed at the same time as the petition, on the Secretary of State's form (45.3). It includes:

• Your name as it should appear on the ballot, with no parentheses, quotation marks or titles. The state guides ask for a phonetic spelling as well, for audio ballots used by voters with visual impairments.
• The office, with the ward or director district if any.
• Your home address, with house number and street, and your county. A mailing address, phone and email are optional.
• Statements that you are eligible, that you will qualify for the office if elected, and that you are aware of the rules the form lists, including the disqualification for a felony conviction without restored rights.
• Party affiliation, which the state guides say to leave blank.

Sign the affidavit in front of a notary, who completes the verification on the form. Once it is notarized, it cannot be altered. Papers are rejected if the affidavit lacks your name, the office and district, your signature or the notary's signature (45.5).

Step 7: Review, bind and file once

Before filing day, review your papers:

• The header on every page is complete and identical, with the ward or director district number where needed.
• Every line you are counting has a signature, a full address inside the district and a date.
• Doubtful lines are struck by drawing a line through the name, which the state guides say keeps them from being counted.
• Your count of good lines is comfortably above your minimum.

Then copy everything for your records, and bind the pages into a single bundle with staples or a three-ring binder. Pages that are not securely fastened together are returned without examination (45.5).

File the affidavit and the bound petition together. City and school board candidates file with the county auditor; if the city or school district lies in more than one county, file with the auditor of the county with the largest taxable base in it (47.2). Community college candidates file with the college's board secretary. You may file in person or by mail, but mailed papers count only if they are received by 5 p.m. on the deadline.

File early in your window. A rejected filing can be corrected only before the deadline, with the petition and affidavit filed together again (45.5).

After you file

Withdrawals and objections are due by Tuesday, August 31, 2027 in primary cities and by Tuesday, September 21, 2027 for everyone else (both based on state law). Community college candidates should ask the board secretary how to withdraw. Keep your copies at hand until those dates pass.

A signature on your petition is not permission to text the signer. If you want to text supporters, keep a separate sign-up sheet, never the petition page itself, that says plainly the person agrees to receive campaign texts and records the date. Only people who agreed that way should get texts. CampaignCNX+, a separate texting product, handles those texts, and its guide to running for local office in Iowa covers the campaign that follows filing.

Put your petition turf on a map

A correctly completed page still has to reach the right voters. Beacon puts each volunteer's turf on a map and keeps a record of every door, with unlimited canvassers on every plan. Start a 14-day trial and set up your first turf before your filing window opens.