To run for village trustee in Illinois in 2027, you confirm which election track your village is on, collect enough valid signatures from registered voters in the village on the official petition form, file a packet with the village clerk (a notarized Statement of Candidacy, your signed and notarized petition sheets, and a receipt showing you filed a Statement of Economic Interests), get through the objection window, and then campaign to election day. Most nonpartisan villages vote on April 6, 2027, with filing November 16 to 23, 2026. Villages with partisan primaries vote earlier.
This guide walks the steps in order with the real 2027 dates from the Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE). It is not legal advice. ISBE says the same about its own Candidate's Guide, so confirm anything specific to your village with your village clerk or an election attorney. For the bigger picture across every local office, start with our guide to running for local office in Illinois.
Step 1: Confirm your track and where you file
Illinois runs two tracks for the 2027 consolidated elections. Which one you are on decides every date that follows.
February 23, 2027 track. Partisan municipal races in towns over 5,000, nonpartisan municipal primaries, and council-manager cities. Circulation began July 28, 2026. Filing is October 19 to 26, 2026. Objections are due November 2. The ballot is certified December 17, early voting opens January 14, 2027, and the primary is February 23. Primary winners go on to April 6.
April 6, 2027 track. Most nonpartisan villages (confirm for yours), plus independent and new-party municipal candidates. Circulation began August 25, 2026. Filing is November 16 to 23, 2026. Objections are due December 1 or 2. The ballot is certified January 28, 2027, early voting opens February 25 (or March 12 where a February primary ran), and the election is April 6.
Where you file: municipal candidates, including independents and new-party candidates, file "with the appropriate city or village clerk, or in those cities having a Board of Election Commissioners, with the clerk of that Board" (ISBE 2027 Candidate's Guide, p. 33). Call that office first. Ask which track your village is on, whether your party nominates by primary or caucus if you are running with a party, and whether they have petition forms on hand.
If you are reading this in early October and your village is on the February track, you have roughly two weeks of circulating left. Move now.
Step 2: Get your signature number
The formula depends on how you are running:
- Party candidate: at least 0.5% of that party's primary voters at the last regular election (10 ILCS 5/7-10(e)).
- Nonpartisan village candidate: 1% of the total vote for village president at the last election (65 ILCS 5/3.1-25-30).
- Independent: "not less than 5% nor more than 8% (or 50 more than the minimum, whichever is greater)" of the people who voted at the last regular election (10 ILCS 5/10-3). ISBE's example: 1,000 voters gives a range of 50 to 100 signatures.
Ask the clerk for the exact number for your village. Then plan for a margin. Objections strike invalid signatures, and many campaigns aim for 1.5 to 2 times the minimum as common practice. That is not a legal rule, just a cushion. If you are running as an independent, remember there is also a maximum.
Step 3: Circulate the petition correctly
Before a single signature goes on a sheet, fill in the heading: the election, your name, the office, your party (when applicable) and your residence. It must be complete before circulating and identical on every sheet. Your name must match exactly across the petition and your Statement of Candidacy, and it cannot include titles, degrees or slogans.
Who can circulate. A circulator must be a U.S. citizen and 18 or older (or 18 by the consolidated election). They do not have to be a registered voter, or even live in Illinois. You can circulate your own petition, and relatives can too if they qualify. Each sheet has one circulator, who must personally witness every signature on it.
Who can sign. Signers must be registered voters in the village, at the address they write next to their name. Each person signs for themselves; a spouse cannot sign for a spouse. For partisan petitions, a voter may sign for candidates of only one established party in that primary. For nonpartisan races, ISBE says "the number of seats to be elected is the number of petitions that a voter can sign," so if three trustee seats are up, a voter can sign up to three trustee petitions.
Timing and ink. No signature may be gathered more than 90 days before the last filing day. Pencil is legally allowed, but ISBE advises a pen with dark ink. Never accept an electronic signature; Illinois candidate petitions are signed in person, on paper, on the official form.
The circulator's statement. At the bottom of every sheet, the circulator lists their address and the dates circulated, certifies the signatures were made in their presence, and signs it before a notary (10 ILCS 5/10-4). ISBE suggests not using a petition signer as the notary.
Step 4: Assemble and file the packet
Check your own sheets before you file. Only you or the circulator may strike a bad line, initialing it and listing it on a certificate of deletions (SBE Form P-2A). Then put the packet together:
- Statement of Candidacy, sworn and notarized, at the front.
- Petition sheets, originals only, numbered from 1 starting with the top sheet, and fastened in book form at one edge. Paper clips and clipboards do not count as secure.
- Receipt for your Statement of Economic Interests. File the SEI itself with the county clerk of the county where the village's principal office is. File the receipt with the village clerk by 5:00 p.m. on the last filing day (October 26 or November 23). It is the one item you may add after the petition is in.
- Certificate of deletions, if you struck anything.
The Loyalty Oath is optional; ISBE notes courts have found the requirement unconstitutional. Once the petition is filed, it cannot be changed or added to.
You may file in person, by mail or through an agent. Filers in line when the office opens on the first day, plus the first USPS delivery that day, are treated as filing at once, and a lottery sets ballot order among them. Filers between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. on the last day draw for the last spots. Everyone else is listed in filing order.
Step 5: Survive the objection window
Any legal voter of the village may object within five business days after the last filing day: November 2, 2026 on the February track, December 1 or 2 on the April track. The objection must be in writing, with an original and two copies, stating the grounds and the relief sought (10 ILCS 5/10-8).
Village candidates are heard by the Municipal Officers Electoral Board: the village president as chair, the village clerk, and the longest-serving eligible trustee. If the village sits wholly within a municipal board of election commissioners' jurisdiction, that board hears it instead. The board meets three to five days after the chair receives the objection, can subpoena records, and must put its findings in writing. Either side may seek review in circuit court within five days of the decision.
If someone objects to you, call an election attorney the day you are notified. Your margin from Step 2 is what carries you through.
Step 6: Plan the campaign from certification to election day
Once the ballot is certified, you have a fixed runway. On the April track, that is January 28 to April 6, with early voting opening February 25 in most villages. On the February track, early voting opens January 14 for the February 23 primary.
A simple shape that works for a village race:
- Before certification: list the precincts in the village and decide who knocks which ones.
- Certification to early voting: knock doors, collect opt-ins for texts, and follow up with anyone who asked a question.
- Early voting to election day: remind supporters when early voting opens and again in the final days.
If you will raise or spend more than $5,000 in a 12-month period, including your own money, you must file a Statement of Organization (Form D-1) with ISBE within 10 business days of crossing that line, or within 2 business days if it happens in the 30 days before the election.
Step 7: Build your walk list and your text list
This is where tools do real work. Start from a list of registered voters in the village (your clerk or county party can tell you how to get one).
Route your doors in Beacon. Load the list, see every door on a map, and let route optimization order each walk. Split the village into territories so two volunteers never knock the same street. Beacon works offline and syncs when your phone reconnects, and it records the result at each door (contacted, not home, come back later, left literature) with notes. Add a survey question such as "wants text updates: yes/no" so you know who to follow up with.
Text only the people who said yes. A petition signature is not consent to receive texts, so collect opt-ins on a separate, dated sheet that says so plainly. Our post on texting the people who signed your petition has the wording. Then, in CampaignCNX+, load your opted-in supporters, schedule the early voting reminder inside quiet hours, and answer replies from the two-way inbox. STOP replies are handled automatically.
Political texting needs Campaign Verify, which requires a committee with an EIN and a filing published by an election authority. A Campaign Verify request made before November 15, 2026 expires January 31, 2027, so most April candidates should request on or after November 15. Our guide to Campaign Verify for local candidates covers cost and timing.
Start your text list now
CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration for you and guides you through Campaign Verify, so your number is ready when early voting opens. 100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month. For Illinois local races there is also an offer through January 31, 2027: 1,000 free texts with a month of Pro, plus white-glove setup for $149 (normally $299). Details are on our Illinois political texting page.