Every candidate for a Texas city office or school board seat gets on the ballot the same way: by filing a sworn application for a place on the ballot. For city offices it goes to the city secretary, and for school board seats it goes to the secretary of the board or the person the board designates. For the May 1, 2027 election, you may file from Wednesday, January 13, 2027 until 5 p.m. on Friday, February 12, 2027. The Secretary of State's form is Form 2-49, the Application for a Place on the Ballot for a General Election for a City, School District or Other Political Subdivision.
The form is a single page with a page of instructions, and most of it asks for facts about you. The parts that cause trouble are the oath, which must be taken before a notary or another authorized officer, and the deadline, because a filed application cannot be amended. This guide goes through the form line by line, then covers filing fees and petitions, delivery and what happens after you file. It follows the July 2025 version of the form and the Texas Election Code. Dates calculated from the statutes are marked "based on state law."
For the rest of the process, see our guide to running for local office in Texas.
Before you fill it out
Confirm that you qualify. The application is a sworn statement that you meet the requirements for the office. In most cities and school districts, that means being at least 18 by the start of the term, having lived in Texas for 12 months and in the territory for six months before the filing deadline, and being a registered voter of the territory by that deadline (Election Code Section 141.001). Home-rule charters and some general-law city rules differ, so check with your filing authority. The Secretary of State lists Tuesday, January 12, 2027 as the last day for candidates to register to vote or update their registration.
Read the filing notice. By Monday, December 14, 2026, your city or district must post a notice of the filing period, and the notice must name an email address where applications may be filed (Section 141.040).
Learn the exact name of your office. If seats have place, position or district numbers, ask the filing authority for the right one.
Get the current form. The filing authority must provide the Secretary of State's forms free of charge, and they can also be downloaded from the Secretary of State's website. The law does not require the official form, but every required item must be included, so using it is the simplest way to avoid a rejection.
The form, line by line
Name of election. At the top, write the election you are filing for, for example the city's or district's May 1, 2027 general election.
Office sought. Write the office, including any place number or other distinguishing number. Then mark whether you are running for a full term or an unexpired term.
Full name and ballot name. Write your full legal name, then the name as you want it printed on the ballot. A nickname may be used only if you have been commonly known by it for at least three years, and it may not be a slogan, include a title, or indicate a political, economic, social or religious view or affiliation. The form's oath covers these nickname statements when you use one. Your name is certified for the ballot in the form you give here (Section 141.037).
Permanent residence address. Give your home address, not a P.O. box or rural route. If your home has no address, describe its location.
Public mailing address and public email (optional). These are for campaign correspondence. The application is public information as soon as it is filed (Section 141.035).
Occupation. Required. Do not leave it blank.
Date of birth. Required.
Voter registration number, or VUID (optional). The number is not required, but the filing authority may use it to confirm that you are registered in the territory.
Telephone numbers (optional).
Felony conviction status. You must check one box. Either you have not been finally convicted of a felony, or you have been convicted but pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disabilities and have attached proof. The form lists the accepted proof: judicial clemency, an executive pardon or a restoration of rights under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Knowingly giving false information here is a Class B misdemeanor.
Length of continuous residence. Enter the years and months you have lived in Texas and in the territory from which the office is elected, as of the date you swear to the application.
School board candidates only. Check the box stating that you are aware that a person required to register as a sex offender is not eligible to serve as a trustee of an independent school district (Education Code Section 11.055).
The oath. The printed statement swears that you will support and defend the constitutions and laws of the United States and Texas, that you are eligible to hold the office, that you are aware of the nepotism law, and that your statements are true. The nepotism law (Government Code Chapter 573) generally bars an officer from appointing or voting to hire close relatives paid from public funds.
Swearing to the application
The application must be signed and sworn to before a person authorized to administer oaths in Texas, with the date you swore to it (Section 141.031). The form lists who may do this, including a notary public, a justice of the peace, a clerk of a court of record and, for a city office, the city secretary.
Do not sign before you reach the notary. The Secretary of State advises filing offices that an application can be notarized only if it has not yet been signed, and that the candidate must sign in the notary's physical presence. Ask your filing authority in advance whether someone in the office can notarize it when you file.
Filing fee or petition, if your city requires one
The Secretary of State says most local political subdivisions require neither a filing fee nor a petition. School board candidates have none under state law. A home-rule city's charter may require a filing fee, and if it does, it must also provide an alternative, such as a petition (Section 143.005). The filing officer section at the bottom of the form records which one you submitted.
If you file a petition with a home-rule city application, it needs at least 25 signatures or one-half of one percent of the total votes cast for mayor in the territory at the last mayoral election, whichever is greater. The Secretary of State's petition form is Form 2-51. The rules for the petition are strict:
- Each signer must be a registered voter of the territory, and each line needs the signer's printed name, residence address, date of birth or voter registration number, and the date of signing (Section 141.063).
- The person collecting signatures must read the petition's statements to each signer, witness each signature and verify each signer's registration, then swear to an affidavit before a notary or other authorized officer (Sections 141.064 and 141.065).
- A voter may sign the petition of only one candidate for the same office, and that warning must appear at the top of each page (Section 141.066).
- A petition in lieu of a filing fee cannot be amended after the filing deadline (Section 141.062).
The fee or petition must be filed at the same time as the application. Your city secretary can tell you the fee amount and the exact signature number.
Delivering the application
You have four ways to file, all between January 13 and 5 p.m. on February 12, 2027. An application filed before January 13 is void.
- In person. Delivery to an employee of the filing authority at its usual place of business counts as filing. Ask for a copy with the date and time received.
- By mail. A mailed application counts only when the office receives it, whatever the postmark.
- By email or fax. Allowed if no filing fee is due. Send the signed and sworn application to the email address in the filing notice. It must be notarized before you send it, and a petition in lieu of a fee may go with it.
- All parts together. The application and any fee or petition must be delivered at the same time, not in pieces. A fee cannot be paid by email or fax.
After you file
Review. The filing authority reviews your application within five days and gives you written notice if it rejects it (Section 141.032). If a petition is attached, the review is completed as soon as practicable. You may not amend an application after filing it, which is the main reason to file early.
Challenges. An application cannot be challenged for problems with its form, content or procedure after Friday, March 12, 2027, the 50th day before the election (based on state law, Section 141.034). Questions about eligibility are handled separately.
Other dates. Write-in declarations are due at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 16, 2027, and the last day to withdraw is Friday, February 19, 2027 at 5 p.m., using a notarized withdrawal (both based on state law). Our Texas May 2027 election calendar lists every date through election day. Check with the Texas Ethics Commission for any other filings.
Once your name is on the ballot, set up texting
- Campaign Verify. Campaign texting from a registered number requires Campaign Verify, which 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 (its federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Check that your filing is viewable online before you request, and ask Campaign Verify Support if it is not. Campaign Verify decides eligibility. Our post on Campaign Verify for local candidates explains the process.
- CampaignCNX+. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration, as 10DLC (the registration for texting from a standard local-style number) or toll-free, and files with it the $95 Campaign Verify token your campaign buys from Campaign Verify.
- Consent. Text only people who agreed in writing to receive campaign texts, and record the consent date and source in a custom field. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone.
100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month. For the rules that apply in every state, see our political texting guide.
File early, and keep a copy
What a good first text includes
- Who it is from. Your name or your business name, in the first words.
- One clear message. A single update or request, with a date or time when there is one.
- How to stop. The opt-out line, so a STOP reply is easy and is handled automatically.
Find your notary, confirm your office and place number, and file in the first weeks after January 13. When you are ready to reach supporters by text, start a CampaignCNX+ trial.
