How to Run for Alder or City Council in Wisconsin

To run for alderperson (often shortened to "alder") or another city office in Wisconsin in spring 2027, you collect signatures on nomination papers from voters in your district starting December 1, 2026, and file those papers, a sworn Declaration of Candidacy (form EL-162) and a campaign registration statement (form CF-1) with your city clerk by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 5, 2027. An alderperson elected by district needs 20 to 40 signatures in most cities and 200 to 400 in Milwaukee. The election is Tuesday, April 6, 2027.

Whether your race also has a February 16 primary depends on a decision by your council, your city's charter ordinances, or a voter petition, so many city races go straight to April. Every rule below comes from Wisconsin statute chapter 8 and the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) 2027 ballot access checklist for municipalities that use nomination papers. Confirm the details for your city with your city clerk.

For the rules that apply to every local office, see our guide to running for local office in Wisconsin.

Step 1: Learn your city's class and your seat

Wisconsin groups its cities into classes by population, and the class sets your signature range. The City of Milwaukee is the only 1st class city. Your city clerk can tell you which class your city is in.

Ask the clerk four more questions at the same time:

• Is your seat elected by district (aldermanic district) or at large (by the whole city)?
• Which seats are on the April 2027 ballot, and how long is the term?
• Has the incumbent in your seat said whether they will run?
• Does the city have a charter ordinance that provides for a primary?

In Milwaukee, the filing officer is the city election commission rather than the city clerk.

Step 2: Register your campaign

Before you raise or spend money, file a campaign registration statement (CF-1) with your city clerk. Wisconsin's registration threshold is $0, and your name cannot appear on the ballot without a registration statement for this election. If you expect your committee's total contributions, payments and obligations to stay at or under $2,500 in the calendar year, you can claim an exemption from filing campaign finance reports, but you still must register and keep records. An incumbent amends the existing registration for the new election dates.

Through November 30, 2027, local candidates file this registration on paper with the local filing officer.

Step 3: Know your signature range

If you are running at large in a city that is not 2nd or 3rd class, ask your clerk for the number. Collect well above the minimum, since signatures can be struck and none can be added after filing.

Step 4: Circulate your nomination papers

Papers may circulate from Tuesday, December 1, 2026; signatures dated earlier do not count. Use WEC form EL-169 and complete the header before anyone signs: your name, your street address, the spring election on April 6, 2027, and the office, including your aldermanic district. Your mailing address must also appear. A missing election date voids the whole page.

For a district seat, every signer must live in your aldermanic district and be an eligible voter age 18 or older. Check addresses carefully near district boundaries, because signatures from outside the district are not counted. Each signer signs, prints their name, and writes their municipality, street and number, and the date.

Your circulators may be any U.S. citizen age 18 or older who would not be disqualified from voting if they lived in Wisconsin. They do not need to live in your city, and you may circulate your own papers. Each circulator completes and dates the certification at the bottom of each page after the last signature.

Our step-by-step guide to filling out and circulating Wisconsin nomination papers covers each line of the form.

Step 5: File by 5 p.m. on January 5

By 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 5, 2027, your city clerk (or, in Milwaukee, the city election commission) must have:

1. your original nomination papers, numbered in order from 1;
2. your Declaration of Candidacy (EL-162), sworn before an officer authorized to administer oaths; and
3. your campaign registration statement (CF-1), if not already filed.

Nomination papers must be originals in the filing officer's hands by the deadline. A faxed or emailed EL-162 or CF-1 must be followed by the original, postmarked by January 5.

If the incumbent is not running. An incumbent who is not running again files a Notification of Noncandidacy by 5 p.m. on Friday, December 25, 2026. If an incumbent neither files nor gives that notice, other candidates for the seat get 72 more hours, to 5 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2027, based on state law. The clerk posts a public notice when this happens.

Step 6: Be ready for a challenge

Based on state law, challenges to nomination papers are due to the clerk by 5 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2027. The challenge must be sworn. Your response is due by 5 p.m. on the third calendar day after the challenge is filed, and the clerk decides the challenge. If a challenge to a page's header or circulation is upheld, every signature on that page is struck, and correcting affidavits cannot fix header defects or add signatures. An order from a local filing officer can be appealed to WEC within 48 hours of the signed order. If you are challenged, contact an election attorney right away.

Step 7: Find out whether there will be a February 16 primary

In Wisconsin, a city primary is not automatic. A primary is held on Tuesday, February 16, 2027 only if one of these happens:

• the council votes for a primary within 3 days after the filing deadline;
• a charter ordinance requires a primary when 3 or more candidates file; or
• a petition signed by voters equal to 10 percent of the city's vote for governor is filed within 3 days after the deadline.

Even then, there is no primary unless the number of candidates exceeds twice the number of seats. Only primary winners appear on the April ballot. If you are running in the City of Milwaukee, confirm the primary rules for your office with the Milwaukee Election Commission.

Step 8: Ballot order and write-ins

Ballot order for city offices is set by drawing lots, and spring ballots carry no party labels. If a write-in candidate enters your race, their votes count only if they file a campaign registration statement by noon on the Friday before the election, which is noon on Friday, April 2, 2027 based on state law.

Step 9: Run the campaign

An aldermanic district is small enough to cover on foot, and most successful district candidates knock on a large share of the doors, often twice. A workable sequence:

• During circulation (December): meet voters while collecting signatures, and ask those who want updates to sign a separate, dated supporter sheet.
• January and February: knock on the doors of voters who regularly vote in spring elections, and write down the neighborhood issues you hear about, such as streets, parking or development.
• March: return to undecided voters and recruit a few volunteers for the final weeks.
• Absentee voting and Election Day: based on state law, in-person absentee voting for April 6 may run from March 23 to April 4, 2027, with hours set by the city. Remind supporters, and send them to the clerk for locations and hours.

Our campaign plan to April 6, 2027 for Wisconsin local races sets this out week by week.

Step in the campaign: route your doors and text your supporters

1. Build your walk list in Beacon. In Beacon, import your voter list from a CSV file, and the name and address fields map automatically. Beacon puts the walk list on a map in route order, works offline, and records the result at every door, such as not home, refused or come back later, along with notes and survey answers. Assign territories to volunteers; every plan includes unlimited canvassers.
2. Confirm your registration is online, then request Campaign Verify. Campaign Verify ($95 per two-year cycle) confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that you are a real campaign, and it needs an EIN (the committee's federal tax ID number) and a filing published online by an election authority. Since Wisconsin local candidates file on paper with the city clerk, check that your registration can be viewed online before requesting, and ask Campaign Verify Support if it cannot. Campaign Verify decides eligibility.
3. Open your CampaignCNX+ account. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration and guides you through Campaign Verify. Your account includes 100 free SMS, and your number is $5 a month, with nothing sent until you buy it.
4. Text only supporters who opted in. Put them in a group, record the date and source of their permission in custom fields, and schedule your absentee voting and Election Day reminders. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., STOP replies are handled automatically, and replies arrive in a shared two-way inbox.

A signature on your nomination papers is not permission to text; only the people who signed your supporter sheet should receive messages. For the general rules on campaign texting, see our political texting guide.

Get on the ballot, then cover your district

A district race is won by a candidate who files clean papers on time and then meets as many neighbors as possible. When your registration is filed and online, start your CampaignCNX+ account so your reminders are ready before absentee voting opens.