This plan is for candidates for city council, mayor, school board and community college board in Iowa. All of them face the voters on Tuesday, November 2, 2027. Candidates in cities with primary provisions may face the voters first, at a primary on Tuesday, October 5, 2027, so the plan includes a separate track for them. The plan runs in seven phases: groundwork over the winter and spring, preparation in early summer, collecting signatures, filing, the weeks after filing, absentee voting, and election week.
The filing windows and election dates come from the Iowa Secretary of State's 2025 to 2027 election calendar. Dates marked "based on state law" are calculated from the Iowa Code. Door counts, volunteer numbers and weekly goals are examples only, so set your own from the size of your ward or district and the time you have. Our guide to running for local office in Iowa explains the rules behind each step.
The dates this plan is built on
- Monday, August 9 to 5 p.m. Thursday, August 26, 2027: filing in cities with primary provisions.
- Monday, August 23 to 5 p.m. Thursday, September 16, 2027: filing for all other cities, school boards and community college boards.
- Tuesday, August 31, 2027: withdrawal and objection deadline in primary cities (based on state law).
- Tuesday, September 21, 2027: withdrawal and objection deadline for everyone else (based on state law).
- Tuesday, October 5, 2027: city primary, where needed.
- Wednesday, October 13, 2027: the earliest day absentee voting can begin for November 2 (based on state law).
- Monday, October 18, 2027, 5 p.m.: voter registration and absentee application deadline (based on state law).
- Monday, November 1, 2027: last day to vote absentee in person at the county auditor's office (based on state law).
- Tuesday, November 2, 2027: election day; polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Tuesday, November 30, 2027: city runoff, in runoff cities where needed.
Our Iowa 2027 city and school election calendar explains each date.
Phase 1: Groundwork (November 2026 to April 2027)
The filing window is months away, which gives you time to learn the office and build relationships before you ask anyone for a signature.
- November and December 2026. Decide which office you will seek. Ask your city clerk, the school district office or the community college's board secretary which seats are on the 2027 ballot, how long each term is, and whether your seat is elected at large or by ward or director district. Confirm that you are an eligible elector of that city, ward or district.
- January and February 2027. Attend council or board meetings and read the budget. Write a short statement of why you are running. As an example, list 50 people you know personally who might sign, volunteer or host a coffee.
- March and April 2027. If you plan to text supporters, form your campaign committee and get an EIN (the committee's federal tax ID number). The Secretary of State's guides send committee questions to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.
Phase 2: Prepare (May and June 2027)
- Weeks of May 3 to May 24. City candidates: ask your city clerk or county auditor which nomination method your city uses (primary, runoff or chapter 45). It decides your filing window and signature number. Everyone: ask your county auditor, or for community college seats the board secretary, for your minimum number of signatures.
- Weeks of May 31 to June 21. Get the current affidavit and petition forms from your county auditor. A 2026 law moved city and school board filing to the county auditor, so use current instructions, not older guides. Line up a notary.
- Week of June 28. Recruit two or three volunteers to help collect signatures. Set a target well above the minimum. As an example, a candidate whose minimum is 25 might aim for 40.
Phase 3: Collect signatures (weeks of July 5 to August 16)
Iowa sets no first day for collecting signatures, but each signer must still be an eligible elector of your city, ward or district when you file. Collecting in the weeks just before your window keeps that risk low.
- Weeks of July 5 and July 12. Fill in the header on one petition page, including the ward or director district number if your seat has one, copy it onto every page, and check each copy. Ask the 50 people on your list first.
- Weeks of July 19 and July 26. Collect door to door in your ward or district. At each door, make sure the signer writes a full home address with house number, street and city, and the date. Community college signers also write their school district. As an example only, if someone answers at about one door in three and about half of them sign, each signature takes about six doors.
- Week of August 2 (primary cities). Count your valid lines and finish collecting. Your window opens Monday, August 9.
- Weeks of August 9 and August 16 (everyone else). Count your lines, strike any line you doubt by drawing a line through the name, and keep collecting until you are comfortably above your minimum.
At each door where someone offers to help, ask whether they would like campaign texts, and have them sign up on a separate sheet or form that says plainly they agree to receive campaign texts, with the date recorded. For the details of each petition line, see the Iowa nomination petition guide on Beacon, our canvassing app's site.
Phase 4: File (weeks of August 9 to September 13)
Primary cities.
- Week of August 9. Filing opens Monday, August 9. Sign your affidavit before the notary, bind the petition pages and file both together with the county auditor early, so there is time to fix a rejected filing.
- Week of August 23. The deadline is 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 26. Mailed papers count only if received by then.
- Week of August 30. The withdrawal and objection deadline is Tuesday, August 31 (based on state law). Keep a copy of your papers at hand.
Everyone else.
- Week of August 23. Filing opens Monday, August 23. Sign your affidavit before the notary, bind the pages and file early with the county auditor, or with the board secretary for a community college seat.
- Weeks of August 30 to September 13. Keep knocking on doors while you wait. The filing deadline is 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 16.
Phase 5: After filing (weeks of September 20 to October 4)
- Week of September 20. The withdrawal and objection deadline is Tuesday, September 21 (based on state law). After it passes, your opponents are set, subject to any objection decisions. In primary cities, voter registration for the October 5 primary closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, September 20 (based on state law).
- Week of September 27. Divide your ward or district into areas for one evening or weekend morning each, and start a second round of doors with households that were undecided. As an example only, a candidate and three volunteers who each knock on 50 doors a week for five weeks would reach about 1,000 doors.
- Week of October 4 (primary cities). The primary is Tuesday, October 5, and polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The top vote-getters, up to twice the number of seats, go on to November 2.
Phase 6: Absentee voting (weeks of October 11 to October 25)
- Week of October 11. Absentee voting at the county auditor's office can begin as early as Wednesday, October 13, once ballots are ready. Ask your auditor for the schedule, then tell supporters where and when.
- Week of October 18. Voter registration and absentee applications close at 5 p.m. on Monday, October 18. If your campaign hands out absentee ballot applications, Iowa law limits what may be filled in ahead of time (53.2), so ask your auditor first.
- Week of October 25. Focus on supporters who have not voted and on undecided households.
Text your supporters during absentee voting
The absentee voting weeks are when a reminder helps most. Set up texting in CampaignCNX+ in June or July, so it is ready by October.
- Committee and Campaign Verify. Campaign Verify confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that a political sender is a real campaign. It needs a 527 committee (the federal tax status of a political committee) with an EIN and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Check that your committee's filing is viewable online before you request it, and ask Campaign Verify Support if it is not. A $95 request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 lasts until January 31, 2029. Campaign Verify decides eligibility.
- Registration. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration, as 10DLC (the registration for texting from a standard local-style number) or toll-free, and files your Campaign Verify token with it. For a toll-free number, the carrier review usually takes about three business days.
- Your supporter group. Add only the people who agreed in writing on your sign-up sheets, and record the consent date and source in a custom field.
- Scheduled reminders. Schedule texts for the start of absentee voting, the October 18 registration deadline and election day. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, and STOP replies are handled automatically. For example:
Hi [First name], it's [Name], running for [Office]. Absentee voting is open at the county auditor's office through Mon, Nov 1. Reply STOP to opt out.
Today is election day. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find your polling place on your county auditor's website. Thank you, [Name]
100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month. For more wording, see our campaign text templates for local races, and for texting rules across the region, see campaign texting in the Midwest.
Phase 7: Election week and after
- Monday, November 1. The last day to vote absentee in person at the county auditor's office. Confirm your volunteer schedule for the next day.
- Tuesday, November 2. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thank your volunteers by name.
- Week of November 8. In a runoff city, a seat without a majority winner goes to a runoff on Tuesday, November 30, 2027; if yours does, repeat the absentee voting steps with your county auditor's new dates. City terms begin at noon on Monday, January 3, 2028 (based on state law).
Begin with the groundwork this winter
The candidates who have the easiest August are the ones who confirmed their seat, their nomination method and their signature number in the spring. Start Phase 1 this month. When you are ready to keep supporters informed through absentee voting, start a CampaignCNX+ trial.
