Each Iowa community college is governed by a board of directors, with one member elected from each director district by that district's voters. Members serve four-year terms, and they are elected at the regular school election on Tuesday, November 2, 2027. To run, you need a nomination petition signed by at least 50 eligible electors of your director district, filed with a notarized affidavit of candidacy between Monday, August 23 and 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 16, 2027. Under the Iowa Code, community college candidates file with the secretary of the college's board of directors.
There is no filing fee, and the race is nonpartisan. A 2026 state law moved city and school board filing to the county auditor but did not change the community college section, so confirm the filing office with the board secretary and your county auditor before filing day. This guide uses the Iowa Code (cited by section) and the Secretary of State's school election candidate guide, which also covers community college candidates.
For the full picture of Iowa's 2027 local elections, see our guide to running for local office in Iowa.
How community college boards are elected
Iowa law calls each community college district a merged area. Its governing board is a board of directors with one member elected from each director district by the voters of that district (260C.11). A board has at least five and no more than nine members, and the director districts are drawn to have about equal populations. Members must live in the district they represent. A member's term is four years and begins at the board's organizational meeting.
Board elections are held with the regular school election, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each odd-numbered year (260C.15, 277.1). The county auditor conducts the election. Because a community college district can cover parts of several counties, the law names one controlling county auditor to receive the nomination petitions from the board secretary and certify the candidates' names to the other counties (260C.15).
Ask the college's board secretary which director districts will be elected in 2027 and which one you live in.
Step 1: Check that you qualify
Be an eligible elector of the director district. The petition states your name and your status as an eligible elector of the director district (260C.15). That means meeting every requirement to register to vote: a U.S. citizen, an Iowa resident and at least 18, with no unrestored felony conviction, no current court judgment of incompetence to vote, and no claim to vote elsewhere. The Secretary of State's guide says you do not have to be registered.
Live in the district for the whole term. Board members must live in the district from which they are elected (260C.11), and an elected official must keep living in the district for the whole term (39.27).
No local school board or AEA seat at the same time. A member of a local school district's board, or of an area education agency board, may not serve on a community college board (260C.11). If you serve on one of those boards now, plan how you would handle it before you file.
One office per election. Iowa generally forbids being a candidate for more than one office at the same election (49.41). Its stated exception covers a city office together with a school board office. If you are considering two offices, ask your county auditor before you collect signatures.
Step 2: Collect 50 signatures from your director district
How many. A community college candidate needs a petition signed by at least 50 eligible electors of the director district (260C.15). The number does not change with the size of the district. Collect more than 50, because signatures can be challenged and incomplete lines are not counted.
Who may sign. Only eligible electors who live in your director district. You may sign your own petition if you live there, and a person may sign petitions for more than one candidate for the same seat.
What each signer writes. Each signer gives a signature (the state guide says it may be printed), a home address including the house number and street, the school district they live in, and the date they signed (260C.15). The school district matters: the Secretary of State's guide says signature lines without it cannot be counted. Carry a list of the school districts in your area for signers who are unsure. A line with only a post office box, a partial address, or an address plainly outside the director district is not counted (45.5).
The header on every page. The petition must state the number of the director district you seek (260C.15). Fill in the candidate information at the top of every page before anyone signs: your name, the office, the community college and director district number, and the type and date of the election. Signatures on a page missing the required information cannot be counted. The guide suggests completing one page and copying it onto the others.
Paper only. Iowa petitions are paper pages, 8.5 by 11 inches, in the Secretary of State's form. Do not plan on electronic signatures.
Plan where in the director district you will collect before you start. For a full walkthrough of the petition form and a door-to-door plan, see the Iowa nomination petition guide on Beacon, our canvassing app's site.
Step 3: Complete your affidavit and file
- The affidavit of candidacy states your name and residence, that you are a candidate, that you are eligible for the office and that you will qualify if elected (260C.15). Write your name exactly as it should appear on the ballot, with no parentheses, quotation marks or titles, and give the director district. Include a phone number if the form allows it, because the board secretary also tries to reach a candidate by phone if an objection is filed.
- Sign before a notary. A notary must be present when you sign. Papers are rejected if the affidavit lacks your name, the office and district, your signature or the notary's signature (45.5).
- Bind the petition pages together. Unbound petitions are returned without examination.
- File with the secretary of the board between Monday, August 23 and 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 16, 2027, the period from 71 days to 47 days before the election (260C.15). File the affidavit and petition together, and keep a copy. Confirm the filing office in advance, as noted above.
If your papers are rejected, you may file a corrected affidavit, or the petition with added pages, but only before the deadline. Filing early leaves time to do that.
Step 4: After you file
Objections. Any person who could vote for a candidate for the seat may object to that candidate's petition or eligibility. The objection must be filed with the board secretary at least 42 days before the election, which is Tuesday, September 21, 2027 (based on state law). The candidate is notified at the address on the affidavit, and the secretary also tries to call if a phone number was given. The board president, the secretary and one more director chosen by ballot consider the objection within two working days (260C.15).
Withdrawal. If you decide not to run, ask the board secretary and your county auditor how and by when to withdraw.
Certification. The controlling county auditor certifies the candidates' names to every county auditor in the merged area by the 42nd day before the election (260C.15).
Step 5: Campaign across a director district
Some voters may not know what a community college board does. Plan to explain, in a sentence or two, what the board is responsible for and why you are running. Attend board meetings before you file, and read the college's public budget and plans.
The fall voter dates are the same as for city and school board races: absentee ballots can be mailed and voted at the county auditor's office as early as Wednesday, October 13, 2027, once ballots are ready; voter registration and absentee applications close at 5 p.m. on Monday, October 18; and polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2. The dates before election day are based on state law, and our Iowa 2027 city and school election calendar lists them all.
Because a director district can be large, a list of supporters you can reach quickly matters more than in a small race. Collect permission to stay in touch at every event and at the doors, using a sign-up sheet that plainly asks whether each person wants campaign texts.
Step 6: Reach supporters across the district by text
Texting lets you reach supporters in every corner of a large district on the days that matter. Set it up in CampaignCNX+ before your filing window.
- 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 (the committee's federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Check that your committee's filing 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.
- 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.
- Groups by town. Add only supporters who agreed in writing to receive your texts, record the consent date and source in a custom field, and tag each person with their town so you can send local event details to the right group. A signature on your petition is not permission to text.
- Scheduled reminders. Schedule texts for the start of absentee voting and for 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.
Hi [First name], this is [Name], candidate for [College] board, District [#]. Absentee voting is open now. Reply STOP to opt out.
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.
Talk to the board secretary this spring
Ask which director districts are on the 2027 ballot, confirm where to file, and get the current forms well before August 23. When you are ready to reach supporters across your district, start a CampaignCNX+ trial.
