Independent and minor party candidates for Indiana city and town offices reach the November 2, 2027 ballot by petition. You collect signatures on a petition of nomination (form CAN-44) from registered voters of your district, equal to 2 percent of the votes cast for secretary of state in that district at the last general election, with any fraction dropped (IC 3-8-6-3). You submit the petition to the county voter registration office for signature checks between Wednesday, January 6, 2027 and noon on Wednesday, June 30, 2027. Then you file the certified petition, a consent form (CAN-45) and a Statement of Economic Interests (CAN-12) with the county election board by noon on Thursday, July 15, 2027.
Every signature must be handwritten on the paper form. Indiana does not accept electronic, digital, digitized or photocopied signatures on a petition of nomination (IC 3-5-4-1.7). Independent candidates do not appear in the May 4 primary, so the petition is your route straight to the November ballot. This guide walks through it step by step, using the Indiana Election Division's candidate guides, 2027 calendar and the CAN-44 form itself. Confirm your exact signature number and deadlines with your county voter registration office and county election board.
For the other routes onto the ballot, see our guide to running for local office in Indiana.
Who uses the petition of nomination
- Independent candidates. Only one independent candidate may be nominated on each petition (IC 3-8-6-4).
- Minor party candidates, other than the Libertarian Party. Candidates of the same minor party may share a petition only if their offices serve the same election district, such as town clerk-treasurer and an at-large council seat. A party name that would confuse voters because it resembles another party's name may be refused (IC 3-8-6-5.5).
- Not Democrats or Republicans. They file a declaration of candidacy for the May 4 primary instead.
- Not Libertarians. The Libertarian Party nominates its city and large-town candidates at a party convention, which must be held by noon on Saturday, July 3, 2027. In small towns without a primary, Libertarian candidates file a town office declaration (CAN-16).
A petition candidate must meet every qualification for the office, just as a party candidate must (IC 3-8-6-14). That includes being registered to vote in the district by the filing deadline (IC 3-8-1-1) and meeting any residency rule for the office.
Step 1: Work out how many signatures you need
The number is 2 percent of the total votes cast for secretary of state at the last general election in the election district you want to represent, with any fraction dropped (IC 3-8-6-3). The district depends on the office. For mayor, clerk-treasurer or an at-large council seat, it is the whole city or town. For a district council seat, it is that council district.
As an illustration only: if 4,350 votes were cast for secretary of state in your district at the last general election, 2 percent is 87, so you would need at least 87 valid signatures.
To find your actual number:
- Ask your county voter registration office. Circuit court clerks have the secretary of state vote by precinct. Because council districts do not always match precinct lines, you may be asked to make the first calculation yourself.
- Use the figure for 2027. Do not rely on example numbers published for earlier elections.
- Know the small-district rule. If a town or council district lies entirely within one precinct but does not include the whole precinct, the petition needs at least five signatures (IC 3-8-6-3).
- Collect more than the minimum. Signatures that do not match the voter rolls are not counted, so plan a margin above your number.
Step 2: Fill out the CAN-44 correctly
Use the 2027 version of the CAN-44, titled "Petition of Nomination for City or Town Office in 2027." A filing on an outdated form must be rejected (IC 3-5-4-8). Fill in the county, your name as it appears on your consent form, your address and the office you seek at the top of each sheet before anyone signs.
Each sheet has ten signature lines. On each line, the signer writes:
- their signature;
- their printed name;
- their date of birth; and
- their residence address, with no P.O. boxes.
Signers do not need to give their precinct or ward. Each signer must fill in their own line in their own handwriting. If a signer needs help because of a disability, the person who helps completes the assistance affidavit on the form.
Who may sign. Signers must be registered voters who live in the district you want to represent (IC 3-8-6-2). The address on the petition must match the address on the signer's voter registration record when the petition is processed (IC 3-8-6-6). A minor difference in a name or address does not invalidate a signature, but a substantial one does, and reasonable doubts are resolved in favor of the signer (IC 3-5-6). A voter who has moved without updating their registration may be rejected, so ask signers whether their registration shows their current address.
Step 3: Circulate the petition and sign the carrier certification
Indiana calls the person who collects signatures the petition carrier. Anyone may serve as a carrier. At the bottom of each sheet, the carrier signs a certification, under penalty of perjury, that they have no reason to believe any signer was ineligible or did not properly complete and sign the sheet. The carrier also gives their printed name, date of birth, the date signed and their full address. No notary is required.
If a carrier leaves part of the certification blank, the county voter registration office may not process that sheet. The office must give the carrier the best possible notice, and the carrier may correct the missing information up to the filing deadline. After that, the sheet cannot be processed.
A few practical habits help: confirm that each signer lives in your district, read each line before the signer leaves, and complete the carrier certification as soon as a sheet is full.
Step 4: Submit the petition for signature checks by noon June 30
File the petition with the county voter registration office, which is the circuit court clerk's office in most counties and a separate board of voter registration in a few. You may file from Wednesday, January 6, 2027. The final deadline is noon on Wednesday, June 30, 2027.
The office checks whether each signer is registered at the address listed and lives in the district, and certifies the number of valid signatures (IC 3-8-6-10; IC 3-8-6-11). If your district crosses a county line, each county's office checks the signers registered in that county. Some offices prefer to process all of a candidate's sheets at once, and others accept partial batches, so call ahead and ask. Turning in sheets early gives you time to collect more if many are rejected.
When to file the CAN-12. In most counties, the CAN-12 goes in with the petition when you file it with the voter registration office. In a county with a separate board of voter registration, it is filed after the signatures are certified. As of September 2025, those counties were Allen, La Porte, Madison, Marion, Vanderburgh and Vigo.
Step 5: File the final papers by noon July 15
By noon on Thursday, July 15, 2027, the county election board must have your certified petition, your consent to be a candidate (CAN-45) and your CAN-12, if it was not filed earlier. The voter registration office files certified petitions with the county election board, but you may ask it to return the originals to you so you can file them yourself with your consent form.
If the clerk finds too few valid signatures, the clerk denies certification and notifies you by certified mail. A candidate may bring that decision before the county election board by filing a challenge form (CAN-1) (IC 3-8-1-2; IC 3-8-6-12). July 15 is also the last day to withdraw from the November ballot for any reason. Our Indiana 2027 municipal election calendar lists the fall voter dates that follow.
Collect texting permission while you circulate
A signature on your petition is not permission to send that person campaign texts. The CAN-44 says only that the signer wants to be able to vote for you on the November ballot. Do not text everyone who signed. Instead, carry a separate sign-up sheet while you circulate, and ask each signer whether they would also like updates by text. Our post on whether you can text the people who signed your petition explains the consent question in more depth.
Then set up texting in CampaignCNX+:
- Settle your committee and Campaign Verify. Campaign Verify confirms to the mobile phone companies that a political sender is a real campaign. It is open to 527 committees (the federal tax status of a political committee) with an EIN (the committee's federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Candidates with no committee are not eligible. Check that your committee filing with the county election board is viewable online before you request Campaign Verify, 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.
- Register your number. CampaignCNX+ files your registration with the mobile phone companies, as 10DLC (the registration for texting from a standard local-style number) or toll-free, and files your Campaign Verify token with it.
- Add only the people who agreed. Put sign-ups in a group, record the consent date and source in a custom field (for example "petition route, March 14"), and keep the paper sheets.
- Schedule your fall texts. Plan messages for the start of early voting on Tuesday, October 5 and for election day on Tuesday, November 2, 2027. Each first message ends with "Reply STOP to opt out," STOP replies are handled automatically, and texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone.
100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month. For texting rules across the region, see campaign texting in the Midwest.
Start collecting in January
Get the 2027 CAN-44, confirm your number with the county voter registration office, and begin collecting once the form is in hand. Turn in your first sheets well before June 30. When you are ready to reach the supporters who signed up for updates, start a CampaignCNX+ trial.
