How to run for local office in Pennsylvania: the 2027 municipal election guide

The short answer

To run for local office in Pennsylvania in 2027 as a Democrat or a Republican, you collect signatures on a nomination petition from registered members of your party between Tuesday, February 16 and Tuesday, March 9, 2027, and file it with your county board of elections by March 9. Most local offices need at least 10 valid signatures. You file a sworn candidate's affidavit with the petition and, for most offices, a Statement of Financial Interests. If your petition stands, your name appears on your party's ballot in the municipal primary on Tuesday, May 18, 2027, and the primary winners run in the municipal election on Tuesday, November 2, 2027.

2027 is Pennsylvania's municipal election year, when school directors, borough council members, township supervisors and many county and city officials are elected. This guide walks through the process in order, from finding out which seats are open to the day new officials take office. The February 16, March 9 and May 18 dates are calculated from the Election Code (marked "based on state law"), because the Department of State's 2027 calendar was not available when we checked. Confirm every date and number with your county board of elections before you rely on it.

One note before you start. Pennsylvania's primaries are party primaries, and the steps here are for candidates seeking the Democratic or Republican nomination. If you plan to run as an independent, or as the candidate of a smaller party or political body, you file nomination papers instead. Those have their own forms, timing and signature rules, which this guide does not cover, so ask your county board of elections about them early.

If this is your first campaign of any kind, our guide to running for local office with no experience covers the decisions that come before the paperwork.

The key dates at a glance.

Our Pennsylvania 2027 municipal election calendar lists every date in order, including the November deadlines and the days new officials take office.

Step 1

Find out which seats are on your 2027 ballot.

The Election Code says county, city, borough, township, ward and school district officers are elected at municipal elections. Terms are staggered, though, so not every seat is up every two years. Your first task is to learn which seats will be on the 2027 ballot where you live. Your county board of elections can tell you, and your school district, borough or township office can tell you whose terms end this cycle.

These are the offices most first-time candidates consider:

Signatures must come from registered and enrolled members of your party who live in the district. Each office also has details of its own:

• School director. In every school district with fewer than 250,000 people, the Public School Code sets a board of nine directors. Five of the nine seats are elected in 2027, for four-year terms, unless vacancies or a regional election plan change the count in your district. Our guide to running for school board in Pennsylvania covers eligibility, regions and cross-filing.
• Borough council. A borough without wards has seven council members unless its voters reduced the number to five or three. A borough with wards elects one or two members per ward. About half the seats are filled at each municipal election. See how to run for borough council in Pennsylvania.
• Township supervisor. A township of the second class has three supervisors, or five where voters approved more. One supervisor is elected at each municipal election for a six-year term. See how to run for township supervisor in Pennsylvania.
• Judge of elections and inspector of elections. These precinct seats are elected every four years, in the year after a presidential election. They were last on the ballot in 2025 and are next due in 2029, so they are generally not on the 2027 ballot. Our guide to running for judge of elections or inspector of elections explains how vacancies are filled in the meantime.
• County, city and judicial offices. County-wide offices need 100 to 1,000 signatures, depending on the county's class, and carry a $100 filing fee. Magisterial district judge candidates need 100 signatures and pay $50. At-large offices in third class cities need 100 signatures, and non-school offices in those cities carry a $25 fee. Ask your county board for the number that applies to your office.

Step 2

Check that you are eligible.

Each office has its own qualifications. These are the main ones for the local seats in this guide:

• School director: a citizen of Pennsylvania, of good moral character, at least 18 years old, who has lived in the school district for at least one year before the election.
• Borough council: a registered voter of the borough who has lived in the borough continuously for at least one year before the election. A ward seat also requires living in the ward.
• Township supervisor: a voter of the township who has lived in the township continuously for at least one year before the election.
• Judge of elections and inspectors: registered voters of the election district they serve.

Some offices cannot be held together. Under the Public School Code, a school director cannot also be a member of council in any municipality, a township supervisor, a mayor, a tax collector or an employee of the same school district, among other offices the code lists. The Borough Code adds that a school director may not be elected to an elective borough office, and the Second Class Township Code says a supervisor may not hold another elective township office.

Two more rules are easy to miss. First, the candidate's affidavit asks you to state that you are not running for an office you already hold whose term does not end in the same year. Second, the Election Code says an election officer is not eligible for any office voted on at a primary or election where that officer serves, other than an election office. If you are a judge of elections or an inspector and plan to run for another office in 2027, talk with your county board before the primary about who will serve in your place.

If you are unsure whether you qualify, ask your county board of elections or an election attorney before you collect a single signature.

Step 3

Choose your party's primary and know who votes in it.

Pennsylvania has a closed primary. Only voters registered as Democrats vote in the Democratic primary, and only voters registered as Republicans vote in the Republican primary. Your petition signers follow the same rule: each must be a registered and enrolled member of the party named on your petition, and must live in the district.

School director is the main exception. The Election Code lets school director candidates seek the nomination of both major parties, which Pennsylvanians call cross-filing. You file a separate petition for each party. Each petition is signed by members of that party and carried by a circulator (the person who collects the signatures) who is enrolled in that party. A school director candidate who wins both primaries is the nominee of both parties in November. The other local candidates in this guide file in one party's primary only.

Step 4

Get your forms ready before February 16.

You file three items with the county board of elections:

1. The nomination petition. Ask your county board for the correct form for your office. Each signer personally signs, legibly prints their name, writes the address where they are registered and adds the date. The Department of State's instructions call for pages printed on both sides, head to head, like the pages of a book.
2. The candidate's affidavit. You state your residence and election district, the office you seek, that you are eligible for it, and (unless you are running for school director) that you are not seeking the same office in another party. The affidavit is notarized. If you cannot obtain a notarization, the Department of State allows an Unsworn Statement in Lieu of Notarization instead.
3. The Statement of Financial Interests. Candidates for county and local offices file this ethics disclosure, covering the 2026 calendar year, with the governing body of the place they would serve, such as the school district, borough or township. It is due by the petition deadline, and a copy goes with your petition. Under the State Ethics Act, a petition without it cannot be accepted, and leaving it out is a fatal defect that keeps you off the ballot. Candidates for judge of elections and inspector of elections do not file one.

Beacon's guide to Pennsylvania nomination petitions covers the petition rules in more detail.

Step 5

Circulate between February 16 and March 9.

The circulation window is three weeks long. No petition may be circulated before Tuesday, February 16, 2027, and a signature counts only if it is dated from February 16 through Tuesday, March 9, 2027 (based on state law).

Who may sign. A signer must be a registered and enrolled member of your party and a qualified voter of the county and the district. Each person may sign only one petition per office, or as many as there are seats. In a race for five school board seats, for example, a voter may sign petitions for up to five candidates. If someone signs more petitions than allowed and the signatures carry the same date, none of them count once an objection is raised.

Who may circulate. Each circulator must be a qualified voter of Pennsylvania who is registered and enrolled in the party named on the petition. Since 2019, no notary is needed for circulators. Instead, each circulator completes a statement at the bottom of every sheet, and a false statement carries the penalties for unsworn falsification. If you are enrolled in the party named on the petition, you may circulate it yourself.

How to handle the sheets. Use separate sheets for signers who live in different counties. When you file, bind the sheets together and number them in order at the foot of each page, starting with 1.

Collect a margin. Signatures fail when a signer is registered in another party, lives outside the district or leaves out the date. Collect well above the minimum so that a few lost lines do not cost you your place on the ballot.

Step 6

File by March 9.

File everything with the county board of elections by the board's ordinary closing time on Tuesday, March 9, 2027 (based on state law). Ask your county board what time that is. If your district crosses county lines, file in the county where most of the district's registered voters live. The board gives you a receipt showing the date and time of filing.

None of the offices in this guide charges a filing fee. If you are running for an office that does, pay by certified check, money order or cash at the county board. Filing fees are not refunded, even if you withdraw.

Step 7

Be ready for objections, and know the withdrawal deadline.

A filed petition is presumed valid. Anyone who wants it set aside must file an objection with the court within seven days after the filing deadline, which is by Tuesday, March 16, 2027 (based on state law). The court must hold its hearing by Friday, March 19 and decide by Wednesday, March 24, 2027. Where an objection points to a material error that appears on the face of the petition, the court may allow an amendment. If your petition is challenged, contact an election attorney right away, because the whole process lasts about two weeks.

If you decide not to run, you may withdraw by written request, signed by you and acknowledged before an officer who can administer oaths, such as a notary. The county board must receive it by its ordinary closing time on Wednesday, March 24, 2027 (based on state law). A withdrawal cannot be taken back once it is filed.

Step 8

Campaign through the May 18 primary.

Once your name is on the ballot, your audience is the voters registered in your party in your district, because only they can vote for you in the primary. Plan your work around these voter deadlines:

• Monday, May 3, 2027: the last day to register to vote or to change party for the primary (based on state law). Voters must register at least 15 days before an election.
• Tuesday, May 11, 2027, by 5 p.m.: the last day to apply for a mail or absentee ballot (based on state law).
• Tuesday, May 18, 2027: primary day. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and mail ballots must reach the county board of elections by 8 p.m.

Pennsylvania does not have early voting in the way many states do. A voter can, however, apply for, fill out and return a mail ballot in one visit to the county election office before Election Day.

For a week-by-week schedule from now to primary day, see our campaign plan to the May 18, 2027 primary.

Step 9

Text the supporters who asked to hear from you.

Text messages are a practical way to remind supporters about the May 3, May 11 and May 18 deadlines. Set up your texting in this order, in CampaignCNX+:

1. Collect written permission first. A signature on your nomination petition is not permission to text someone. Carry a separate sign-up sheet that says plainly that the person agrees to receive campaign texts from you, and record the date. Never text everyone who signed your petition, everyone on a voter list or everyone you met at a door.
2. Confirm your committee's filing is online, then request Campaign Verify. Campaign Verify is the check that confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that a political sender is a real campaign. It costs $95 per two-year cycle and is for 527 committees (the federal tax status of a political committee), so candidates with no committee are not eligible. It needs your committee's EIN (its federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online, and the PIN is sent only to the contact details on that filing. Before you request it, ask your county board of elections whether your local committee filing can be viewed online. If it cannot, ask Campaign Verify Support how to proceed before you pay. Campaign Verify decides who is eligible. Requests made before November 15, 2026 expire January 31, 2027, so request on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026, which lasts until January 31, 2029.
3. Open your CampaignCNX+ account and let it file your registration. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration for you, either 10DLC (the carrier registration for texting from a local-style number) or toll-free. You buy the Campaign Verify token from Campaign Verify, and CampaignCNX+ files it with your registration. 100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month. The free texts can be used once your number is bought and approved. For a toll-free number, carrier review usually takes about three business days, so set this up well before petition season.
4. Add only opted-in supporters. Put them in a group, and record each person's consent date and source in a custom field.
5. Schedule your reminders. Write short texts for May 3, May 11 and May 18, include "Reply STOP to opt out" on your first message to each person, and schedule them. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, and STOP replies are handled automatically.

Our guide to texting voters in a Pennsylvania local race walks through each step with sample messages, and our explainer on Campaign Verify for local candidates covers the verification process itself. For the rules that apply in every state, see our political texting guide.

After the primary: November 2 and taking office.

The winner of each party's primary appears on the ballot for the municipal election on Tuesday, November 2, 2027. The voter deadlines repeat for November: Monday, October 18, 2027 to register, and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 26, 2027 to apply for a mail or absentee ballot (both based on state law).

New officials take office on different days, depending on the office:

• School directors: the first Monday of December after the election, which is Monday, December 6, 2027 (based on state law).
• Borough council members and township supervisors: the first Monday of January after the election, which is Monday, January 3, 2028 (based on state law).