How to Run for City Council in Indiana

Indiana cities elect their common council in 2027. To run as a Democrat or a Republican, you must be registered to vote in your council district by the filing deadline and meet the residency rule for the seat. In a second or third class city, that means living in the city for at least one year, and in the council district for at least six months, before the election. You then file a declaration of candidacy and a Statement of Economic Interests (form CAN-12) with the county election board between Wednesday, January 6, 2027 and noon on Friday, February 5, 2027. No petition signatures are needed. The party primary is on Tuesday, May 4, 2027, and the city election is on Tuesday, November 2, 2027.

Independent and minor party candidates take a different route: a petition of nomination signed by registered voters of the district, due to the county voter registration office by noon on Wednesday, June 30, 2027. This guide covers both routes in order. The rules come from the Indiana Election Division's candidate guides, calendars and forms, with Indiana Code (IC) citations, and Indiana's candidate deadlines fall at noon. Confirm anything specific to your city with your county election board.

For the full picture of a 2027 Indiana race, including town offices and write-in candidates, see our guide to running for local office in Indiana.

Step 1: Learn how your council is elected

Indiana law sets the size and shape of a city council by the city's class, and some cities have changed the default by ordinance. The Election Division's candidate guide describes three common patterns:

• Second class cities: six members elected from districts, plus three members elected at large by all the voters of the city (IC 36-4-6-3).
• Third class cities: five district members plus two at-large members (IC 36-4-6-4). Some third class cities have adopted a different mix by ordinance, such as four district members and three at-large members, or a smaller council in cities under 10,000 people (IC 36-4-6-4; IC 36-4-6-5).
• Indianapolis: the legislative body is the City-County Council, with 25 members elected from 25 districts (IC 36-3-4-3).

Before you decide on a seat, ask your city clerk or your county election board three questions: which class your city is in, which council seats are on the 2027 ballot, and which district your home is in.

Step 2: Check that you qualify

All candidates for council must meet the same qualifications, whatever their party.

Registration. You must be registered to vote in the district you want to represent no later than the filing deadline for your route onto the ballot (IC 3-8-1-1). If you have moved recently, update your registration early, because a new or changed registration is generally not effective until at least seven days after it is submitted and approved.

Residency. A candidate for the common council of a second or third class city must have lived in the city for at least one year, and in the council district (if the seat has one) for at least six months, before the election (IC 3-8-1-27). For Indianapolis's City-County Council, a candidate must have lived in the district for at least one year before taking office (IC 3-8-1-25). Living in territory the city annexed counts toward the city residency requirement, even if the annexation took effect less than a year before the election (IC 36-4-6-2).

These rules are quoted from the Election Division's 2023 candidate guide, the most recent municipal-year edition, so confirm them with your county election board before you file.

Other rules that can disqualify a candidate.

• Felonies. A person is disqualified if a jury or court has publicly announced a felony verdict against them, or if they pleaded guilty or no contest to a felony, unless the conviction was pardoned, reversed, vacated, set aside or expunged (IC 3-8-1-5).
• City employees. If you work for the city, you may still run. If you win, you automatically resign from your city job when you take office (IC 3-5-9-5).
• The "sore loser" law. A candidate who loses the May primary cannot run for the same office in November, including as a write-in (IC 3-8-1-5.5).

Step 3: Choose your route onto the ballot

As a Democrat or a Republican

You will file a declaration of candidacy for your party's May 4 primary. The last two Indiana primaries in which you actually voted must have been that party's primaries (IC 3-8-2-7). If they were not, or if either ballot was nonpartisan, attach a certification from your party's county chair. A missing certification does not cause rejection, but it invites a challenge.

As an independent or minor party candidate

You will file a petition of nomination (form CAN-44) instead. It must be signed by registered voters of your district equal to 2 percent of the votes cast for secretary of state at the last general election in that district, with any fraction dropped (IC 3-8-6-3). For an at-large seat, the district is the whole city. Ask your county voter registration office for the number that applies in 2027, and do not rely on example numbers from earlier elections. It is due to the county voter registration office by noon on Wednesday, June 30, 2027, and the final papers go to the county election board by noon on Thursday, July 15.

The Libertarian Party nominates its city candidates at a party convention, which must be held by noon on Saturday, July 3, 2027. Contact the party for its process.

Step 4: File your declaration of candidacy

For Democratic and Republican candidates, filing works like this:

1. Get the current forms from your county election board: the 2027 declaration of candidacy for the municipal primary and the CAN-12. A filing on an outdated form must be rejected (IC 3-5-4-8).
2. Sign the declaration before a notary or another person authorized to give oaths (IC 3-8-2-7).
3. File both forms with the county election board in the county that has the largest share of your district's population. In most counties, this is the circuit court clerk's office.
4. File early and by hand. The window opens on Wednesday, January 6, 2027 and closes at noon on Friday, February 5, 2027. A late filing must be rejected, and a mailed filing counts only when it is received.

If you change your mind, you may withdraw from the primary for any reason until noon on Friday, February 12, 2027. Our step-by-step guide to filing your declaration of candidacy in Indiana covers the form, the notary and how your name will appear on the ballot.

Step 5: Run the council campaign

From the February 5 filing deadline to the May 4 primary is 88 days. The voter dates that matter most in that stretch are the end of voter registration on Monday, April 5, the start of early voting in the circuit court clerk's office on Tuesday, April 6, the vote-by-mail application deadline at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, and the end of early voting at noon on Monday, May 3. Counties may reduce early voting days or hours in a municipal year, so check your county's schedule.

For a district seat, most of the work is meeting voters at their doors. Ask your county voter registration office how to obtain a list of registered voters in your district, and start with households that vote in local elections. As an example only: if you and two volunteers each knock on 60 doors a week for ten weeks, the three of you would reach about 1,800 doors before the primary. Set your own numbers from the size of your district and the time you have.

For an at-large seat, you are campaigning citywide, so plan for more volunteers, more events and a steady way to stay in touch with the supporters you meet. After the primary, the same pattern repeats for the November 2 election, with voter registration closing on Monday, October 4 and early voting opening on Tuesday, October 5, 2027.

Step 6: Keep supporters informed by text

A short text at the right moment tells supporters when and where to vote. Set it up in CampaignCNX+ before early voting begins.

1. Settle your committee first. Texting from a registered number for a campaign requires Campaign Verify, a check that confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that you are a real campaign. It needs a 527 committee (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. 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. Request it on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026, so it lasts until January 31, 2029. It costs $95, and eligibility is decided by Campaign Verify.
2. Open your account. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration for you, as 10DLC (the registration for texting from a standard local-style number) or as toll-free, and files your Campaign Verify token with it.
3. Add only supporters who agreed in writing. Use a sign-up sheet at doors and events that plainly says the person agrees to receive campaign texts, and record the date. In CampaignCNX+, put these supporters in a group, tag where you met them, and record the consent date and source in a custom field. Do not add people from a voter list who never asked to hear from you.
4. Schedule a reminder for early voting. Use the first-name merge field so each text is addressed to the person, and end the first message with the opt-out line:

Hi [First name], this is [Name], candidate for [City] Council. Early voting opens Tue, Apr 6 at the county clerk's office. Reply STOP to opt out.

Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, and STOP replies are handled automatically. 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.

Get your filing in order before January 6

Check your registration and residency, confirm your seat and district, and find a notary before January 6. When you are ready to keep supporters informed by text, start a CampaignCNX+ trial.