To run for village council in Ohio, you file a nominating petition with your county board of elections and pay a $30 filing fee. Under state law, a village with fewer than 2,000 people requires at least 10 signatures from voters of the village, and a village of 2,000 or more requires at least 50. In most villages, petitions are due by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 4, 2027, and the election is on Tuesday, November 2, 2027.
You must also have lived in the village for at least one year before the election. Under the default schedule in state law, two of the six council seats are on the ballot in 2027, though some villages have changed their council's size or schedule. This guide explains how to confirm what applies in your village and how to get on the ballot. For other local offices, see our guide to running for local office in Ohio.
Step 1: Confirm that you live in a village, and how its council works
In Ohio, a municipality with fewer than 5,000 people at the last federal census is a village. A village that grows past 5,000 becomes a city at the next census, and a city that falls below 5,000 becomes a village.
The council's size and schedule
By default, a village council has six members, all elected at large (by voters of the whole village), for four-year terms. State law staggers the seats:
- Two seats are elected every four years, including 2027.
- Four seats are elected every four years in the alternate municipal election years, including 2025 and 2029.
Village voters may reduce the council to five members, and a village may also end its staggered terms, so the number of seats open in your village may differ. Franklin County's 2027 schedule, for example, lists two council seats for several villages, along with the mayor in some of them.
Some ballots also include an unexpired term, when a seat was vacated before its term ended. The board's schedule lists full and unexpired terms separately, and your petition must name the term you are seeking.
How candidates are nominated
Villages with fewer than 2,000 people hold no primary unless a majority of their voters have petitioned for party primaries, so their candidates file a petition and go straight to the November ballot. Larger villages nominate the way they did in 1989 unless their voters changed the method. A charter village may set its own rules. In Franklin County, for example, the Village of Brice holds a nonpartisan primary under its charter, with petitions due Wednesday, February 3, 2027 and a five-person nominating committee named on each petition.
The easiest way to confirm your village's method is your county board of elections' 2027 schedule.
Step 2: Check that you qualify
Under state law, a village council member must:
- Have lived in the village for one year immediately before the election.
- Be an elector of the village, meaning a voter qualified to vote there.
- Hold no other public office, have no interest in any contract with the village and not be employed by the village. The exceptions are notary public, member of the state militia and volunteer firefighter for the village, provided the member receives no pay as a firefighter beyond their council pay.
A member who stops meeting these rules, or who moves out of the village, forfeits the office. When you sign the statement of candidacy on your petition, you declare under penalty of election falsification that you are an elector qualified to vote for the office. You also cannot file for two municipal, township or school offices at the same election, so if your village's mayor is on the 2027 ballot too, you must choose one office.
If you are interested in the mayor's office instead, our guide on how to run for mayor in Ohio covers village mayors, who preside over council meetings and vote only to break a tie.
Step 3: Collect your signatures
| Village population | Minimum signatures | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 2,000 | 10 | 30 |
| 2,000 or more | 50 | 150 |
These are the state's numbers for nonpartisan village races. A petition with more than three times the minimum is refused. As an example, Franklin County's 2027 schedule shows 10 to 30 for villages such as Harrisburg, Lockbourne and Marble Cliff. A charter can set a different number, so confirm yours with the board.
Ten signatures may sound easy, but village petitions are rejected for the same reasons as larger ones. Sign the statement of candidacy before anyone signs. Make sure every signer is a registered voter of the village, that each signature is affixed in ink, and that each signer writes the date and the address on their voter registration. The circulator (the person who collects the signatures, which may be you) signs a statement on each paper saying they witnessed every signature. Collect a comfortable margin above your minimum, without going over the maximum.
For a full walkthrough of the form, see the Ohio nominating petition guide on Beacon, our canvassing app's site.
Step 4: File by August 4
File your petition with your county board of elections by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 4, 2027, or by February 3 if your village holds a primary. If your village crosses a county line, file with the board of the county that holds the major portion of its population. Pay the $30 fee when you file ($10 filing fee plus a $20 Ohio Election Integrity Commission fee). The fee is not refunded.
Write-in candidates file a declaration of intent by 4 p.m. on Monday, August 23, 2027.
Step 5: Campaign in a village
In a village, many voters know the candidates personally and talk with one another about the race. That makes a careful, personal campaign worth the effort:
- Knock on every door you can, more than once if time allows, and keep notes on what you hear.
- Attend council meetings and read recent minutes, so you can speak accurately about the village's decisions.
- Ask a few respected neighbors to help, by hosting a small gathering or by walking a street with you.
- Plan for the fall voting dates. The Franklin County schedule shows voter registration closing at 9 p.m. on Monday, October 4, 2027 and early voting opening on Tuesday, October 5, 2027. Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
If you live near the village line, you may meet township voters who cannot vote in the village race. Our guide on how to run for township trustee in Ohio explains the township offices on the same ballot.
Step 6: Keep volunteers and supporters informed with CampaignCNX+
A village campaign is small enough that a handful of texts can keep everyone on schedule. Text only people who agreed in writing to receive texts from your campaign, and record the date. A petition signature is not that agreement.
- Confirm your committee's filing is online. Campaign Verify, the check that confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that you are a real campaign, needs an EIN (your committee's federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Ask your county board of elections whether your committee's filing can be viewed online, and ask Campaign Verify Support how to proceed if it cannot. Campaign Verify decides eligibility. A request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 lasts until Wednesday, January 31, 2029.
- Open your account. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration and the Campaign Verify token you buy from Campaign Verify. 100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month.
- Make two groups: supporters and volunteers. Add only people who agreed to texts, and record the date of their permission in a custom field.
- Set a repeating text for volunteers. If your volunteers walk the village every Saturday in October, a repeating text on Friday evening can remind them where to meet:
[Name] for Village Council: we walk tomorrow at 10 a.m. from the village hall parking lot. Reply if you can make it. Thank you.
- Answer replies personally. Replies arrive in the shared inbox, an add-on at $12.49 a month that is included on the Enterprise plan. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in each recipient's time zone, and STOP replies are handled automatically.
The first text each person receives should name your campaign and end with "Reply STOP to opt out." Our page on texting for Midwest campaigns explains the setup in more detail.
Make the most of a small electorate
A village race rewards candidates who start early and stay in touch. Check your village's seats and signature number on your board's 2027 schedule, file well before August 4, and keep a list of the neighbors who want to hear from you. When your committee is in place, start your CampaignCNX+ trial.
