//Run for office · Kentucky

How to run for local office in Kentucky

Every Kentucky local race is on an even-year November ballot, and you file with the county clerk by 4 p.m. on the first Friday after the first Monday in January: January 7, 2028 for the next cycle.

Facts checked against official sources · September 9, 2026

Kentucky puts all city, county, and school board races on the November ballot in even-numbered years (KRS 118.025), with a May primary for partisan offices. 2027 is a constitutional-officer year with no regular local elections, so a first-time local candidate is planning for November 7, 2028 and a filing deadline of January 7, 2028. County clerks handle candidate filings, voter registration, absentee ballots, and early voting; the State Board of Elections sells the voter file; and the Registry of Election Finance, not the county, takes every campaign finance report, even for a city council seat.

Two Kentucky quirks matter for a small campaign. The State Board's statewide file costs $4,000, but a county or district file is $10 per precinct, and it carries a five-year voting history. And Kentucky does not release who-has-voted lists during voting: the county clerk's lists of mail-in and early voters are closed until after the polls close on election day (KRS 117.086), so there is no mid-window ballot chase off official data.

Election authority: Kentucky State Board of Elections
Voter file: Restricted — limited requesters or uses · $4,000 for the statewide file. County, district, or precinct data: $10 per precinct for electronic or paper lists ($40 minimum order; orders over $100 or 10 precincts add $1 per precinct), mailing labels $30 per thousand ($30 minimum), plus shipping (State Board price sheet, checked 2026-09-09). Order on form SBE-84; allow 7 to 10 business days.
Campaign finance: KEFMS (Kentucky Election Finance Management System) (Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF))
How voters vote: In person, with excuse-required absentee voting
Registration deadline: Registration closes on the fourth Tuesday before a primary or general election and stays closed through the first Monday after (KRS 116.045(2)); in practice the last day is 29 days out (October 5, 2026 for November 3, 2026). Party changes must be made by December 31 of the year before the primary.
Local offices: County offices are partisan, nominated in the May primary. City offices are nonpartisan unless the city legislative body opts into partisan elections by ordinance (KRS 83A.050), and home rule cities may skip the nonpartisan primary by ordinance. School board seats are nonpartisan petition candidacies (KRS 118.365).

Who runs elections in Kentucky

Kentucky State Board of Elections The State Board of Elections (chaired by the Secretary of State) keeps the statewide voter registration database, sells voter data, sets the election calendar, certifies candidates for multi-county offices, and oversees the county boards of elections. Local candidates rarely file anything with it directly: nomination papers go to the county clerk and finance reports to the Registry of Election Finance. You will use its site for the calendar, the voter-data order form, and the qualifications and fee table.

The county clerk is the local election official: registers voters, receives nomination papers for every office voted on within the county (county offices, mayor, city council or commission, school board, soil and water supervisor), issues mail-in absentee ballots, runs excused in-person absentee voting and the three days of no-excuse early voting, and keeps the lists of who voted by each method. The county board of elections appoints precinct officers and runs election day. City governments do not run their own elections unless they hold them on a date other than the state schedule (KRS 83A.050(3)).

Getting the Kentucky voter file

The voter file is the list of every registered voter, with the fields a campaign needs to target: address, party where the state records it, and vote history. In Kentucky it comes from Kentucky State Board of Elections.

Access: Restricted — limited requesters or uses
Cost: $4,000 for the statewide file. County, district, or precinct data: $10 per precinct for electronic or paper lists ($40 minimum order; orders over $100 or 10 precincts add $1 per precinct), mailing labels $30 per thousand ($30 minimum), plus shipping (State Board price sheet, checked 2026-09-09). Order on form SBE-84; allow 7 to 10 business days.
Format: Fixed-length or password-protected electronic file, or paper lists sorted alphabetically or by street; labels by voter or household.
Vote history: Included
Phone numbers: Not included
Updated: Confirm with Kentucky State Board of Elections

Who can get it: Duly qualified candidates (you have filed a letter of intent with the Registry of Election Finance or nomination papers with the Secretary of State or county clerk) or their authorized representatives, political party committees, and committees for or against a ballot question (KRS 117.025(3)(i)). Anyone else must justify the request in writing and the Board decides.

Permitted use: Your own campaign, a party committee, or a ballot-question committee. Commercial use, resale, and transfer to anyone who would use it commercially are barred (31 KAR 3:010); scholarly, journalistic, political, and governmental use is not commercial.

County option: Yes, and it is the normal route: order your county, city, district, or individual precincts from the State Board at $10 per precinct. Get the precinct list for your district from the county clerk before you fill out SBE-84. Special requests (for example, voters who voted in 3 of the last 5 elections, or new registrants) are available on electronic files and labels.

The extract layout carries county and precinct codes, name, sex, party, residence and mailing address, year of birth (not full date of birth), registration date, a five-year voting history, and an inactive flag. Paper lists show an age band instead of birth year.
The five-year voting history is a two-digit-year string with a 1 for each primary or general the voter cast a ballot in; it is unofficial, and the county clerk holds the official record.
Party codes include D, R, I (independent status), L, G, C, and O (other). Kentucky primaries are closed, and the deadline to change party for the next primary is December 31 of the year before (KRS 116.055).

Whatever file you get, Culper imports it as a CSV and maps the columns for you. See how to read a voter file for what the fields mean.

Filing to run for local office in Kentucky

You file nomination papers (the notification and declaration form) with the county clerk if your office is voted on within one county, which covers every county office, mayor, city legislative body, and school board seat; multi-county offices file with the Secretary of State (KRS 118.165). The window opens the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November of the year before the election, and signatures cannot be gathered before then. The fee is $50 for county and city offices and $20 for school board. City offices are nonpartisan unless the city has adopted partisan elections by ordinance; county offices are partisan with a May primary.

File with: County clerk of your county of residence for county, city, and school board offices (KRS 118.165(1), 83A.045, 118.365). Secretary of State for offices covering more than one county.
Filing fee: $50 for county judge/executive, county clerk, county commissioner, magistrate, sheriff, mayor, and city legislative body; $20 for board of education (State Board of Elections fee table, KRS 118.255).
Petition: Confirm with the filing officer
Partisan?: County offices are partisan, nominated in the May primary. City offices are nonpartisan unless the city legislative body opts into partisan elections by ordinance (KRS 83A.050), and home rule cities may skip the nonpartisan primary by ordinance. School board seats are nonpartisan petition candidacies (KRS 118.365).

Filing window: Partisan candidates and nonpartisan city candidates in cities that hold a primary: no earlier than the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November of the prior year and no later than 4 p.m. local time on the first Friday after the first Monday in January of the election year (KRS 118.165, 83A.045). Independents, board of education candidates, and city candidates in cities that skip the nonpartisan primary: same opening date, closing at 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June (KRS 118.365, 83A.045(2)(b)); independents also file a statement of candidacy by April 1 (KRS 118.367).

Key Kentucky dates
What	When	Note
Nomination papers due, 2028 partisan primary and nonpartisan city primaries	January 7, 2028	4 p.m. local time, first Friday after the first Monday in January (KRS 118.165, 83A.045). Signatures may be gathered from November 3, 2027. Filing fee due at filing.
Statement of candidacy due, independent and political-group candidates (2028)	April 1, 2028	KRS 118.367(1); filed with the same office as your nomination papers. Does not apply to mayor or council candidates in partisan home rule cities.
Primary election, 2028	May 16, 2028	First Tuesday after the third Monday in May (KRS 118.025(3)). County offices and partisan or primary-holding city offices.
Petitions of nomination due, independents, school board, and no-primary city candidates (2028)	June 6, 2028	4 p.m. local time, first Tuesday after the first Monday in June (KRS 118.365(2), 83A.045(2)(b)).
General election, 2028 local offices	November 7, 2028	First Tuesday after the first Monday in November (KRS 118.025(4)). County officers, mayors on the 2028 stagger, all city legislative bodies, school board seats on the 2028 stagger.
Nomination papers due, 2027 state constitutional offices (no local races)	January 8, 2027	4 p.m., per the State Board's 2027 calendar. 2027 has no regular city, county, or school board elections in Kentucky.

Campaign finance rules in Kentucky

State-level campaign finance in Kentucky is overseen by Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF) through KEFMS (Kentucky Election Finance Management System).

Where local candidates file: Every candidate files with the Registry, including city council, mayor, and school board candidates; there is no county-level campaign finance filing in Kentucky. Within 5 days of first raising or spending money, or of filing your nomination papers, whichever is sooner, you must submit the Registry's form electing whether you will raise or spend more than $5,000 in the election (KRS 121.180). Candidates who stay at $5,000 or less are exempt from most reports. Reports are filed electronically in KEFMS through the Registry's candidate dashboard.

Contribution limits: The same limits apply to a city council candidate and a candidate for governor. From an individual: $3,500 per election; from a PAC (permanent committee): $3,500 per election; from a party executive committee or caucus campaign committee: unlimited (Registry table, effective July 15, 2026). The limit tracks the federal individual limit under KRS 121.150(6), so it moves in odd years. Cash is capped at $200 per contributor per election, and anonymous contributions over $200 must be returned (KRS 121.150). The primary and the general count as separate elections.

Reporting: If you elect the over-$5,000 option: 30-day and 15-day pre-election reports for the primary and the general (plus a 60-day pre-election report for the general), and 30-day and 60-day post-election reports. If you elect $5,000 or less: a 30-day post-election report only. Statewide candidates also file quarterly.

A separate spending-option form is required for the primary and the general. You can rescind a $5,000-or-less election in writing up to 30 days before the primary or 60 days before the general (KRS 121.180).
A campaign run only by the candidate and a treasurer under a generic name such as Friends of the candidate is not a separate committee and does not need committee registration (KRS 121.015).

Limits and thresholds change. Treat the figures here as a starting point and confirm the current schedule with Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF) before you accept a check. Our campaign finance basics guide covers the bookkeeping every local candidate needs on day one.

How voting works in Kentucky

In person, with excuse-required absentee voting. Most Kentuckians vote in person, either on election day (polls 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time) or during the three days of no-excuse in-person absentee voting on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before the election (KRS 117.076(1)). Mail-in absentee ballots require a listed excuse.

Early voting: No-excuse early voting is only three days: the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday immediately before election day, at least 8 hours per day between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. (October 29-31, 2026 for the November 3 election). Excused in-person absentee voting runs during the six business days before that Thursday (October 21-23 and 26-28, 2026) for voters who will be out of the county, have surgery scheduled, are students away, are in the last trimester of pregnancy, cannot get to the polls due to age, disability, or illness, or work every hour the polls are open (KRS 117.076(2)).
Mail ballots: Excuse required: temporary out-of-county students, voters with a disability or illness, temporary out-of-state residents, covered military and overseas voters, and a few others. Request through the online portal, which opens 45 days before the election, by 11:59 p.m. Eastern 14 days before (October 20, 2026 for the November election). Ballots return by mail, hand delivery, or drop box to the county clerk.
Registration deadline: Registration closes on the fourth Tuesday before a primary or general election and stays closed through the first Monday after (KRS 116.045(2)); in practice the last day is 29 days out (October 5, 2026 for November 3, 2026). Party changes must be made by December 31 of the year before the primary.
Same-day registration: No

Knowing who has already voted: Kentucky withholds it during voting. The county clerk keeps separate lists of who returned a mail-in ballot and who voted in person during excused or no-excuse absentee days, but those lists are not public until after the close of business on election day (KRS 117.086(4)); the clerk sends them to the State Board afterward. What you can get: the voter file's five-year voting history, special-request files of voters who voted in specific past elections (SBE-84), and post-election turnout reports by county, precinct, and age, gender, and party from the State Board. Plan your early-voting turnout program from history, not from a live return file.

Local government in Kentucky: what you can run for

Kentucky is governed locally by counties, cities, and school districts; there are no townships. Each county has a fiscal court (the county judge/executive plus magistrates or county commissioners) and separately elected officers: county clerk, sheriff, county attorney, jailer, coroner, property valuation administrator, surveyor, and constables. Two counties are merged city-county governments: Louisville/Jefferson County Metro (a mayor and district-based Metro Council) and Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (a mayor and a council with 12 district and 3 at-large seats). Cities are home rule class, with mayor-council, commission, or city manager plans (KRS 83A.130 to 83A.150). Public schools are run by county and independent school districts with elected boards; soil and water conservation districts elect supervisors.

County judge/executive
Magistrate / justice of the peace (fiscal court)
County commissioner (fiscal court)
County clerk
Sheriff
County attorney
Jailer
Coroner
Property valuation administrator
Constable
Mayor
City council / city commission member
Louisville Metro Council member
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council member
Board of education member
Soil and water conservation district supervisor

When local elections happen: Everything local is in November of even years (KRS 118.025(4)), with the primary on the first Tuesday after the third Monday in May. County officers serve four-year terms elected in 2026, 2030, 2034. City legislative bodies are elected every two years (2026, 2028, 2030); mayors serve staggered four-year terms, so a given city elects in 2026 or 2028; school boards are staggered across even years. Louisville Metro Council alternates odd and even districts each even year; Lexington's district council seats are two-year and at-large seats four-year. Odd years (2027, 2031) elect only state constitutional officers.

Running your Kentucky campaign on Culper

Culper does not license voter data in Kentucky today. You upload the Kentucky voter file described above as a CSV, and every feature runs on it: search and lists, plain-English queries, texting and email, block walking, and volunteer coordination. Online donation processing is in development; ask about timing on the onboarding call. Your file stays in your campaign's workspace and is never shared with another campaign.

Set up your Kentucky campaign in an afternoon

Upload the voter file, ask for your first list in plain English, and hand your volunteers the walking app. Signup is open to candidates in every state. Pricing is set after a short call so it matches the size of the race.

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Kentucky questions we get asked

When is the next Kentucky city council or school board election, and when do I file?

November 7, 2028. Kentucky holds all local elections in even years (KRS 118.025), and 2027 elects only Governor and the other statewide constitutional officers. Nomination papers for partisan county offices and for cities that hold a primary are due to the county clerk by 4 p.m. on Friday, January 7, 2028; independents, school board candidates, and candidates in cities that skip the primary have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6, 2028. Signatures cannot be gathered before November 3, 2027.

How much does the Kentucky voter file cost and what is in it?

$4,000 statewide, or $10 per precinct for the county or district you are running in ($40 minimum), from the State Board of Elections on form SBE-84. The file has name, address, mailing address, sex, party, year of birth, registration date, precinct, and a five-year voting history; no phone numbers and no full birth date. You qualify once you have filed nomination papers with the county clerk or a letter of intent with the Registry of Election Finance.

Do Kentucky local candidates really file campaign finance reports with the state?

Yes. The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance takes every candidate's reports, from city commission to governor, electronically through KEFMS. Within 5 days of raising or spending money or filing your papers, you tell the Registry whether you will exceed $5,000 in the election; if you stay under, you file only a 30-day post-election report. Contribution limits are $3,500 per election from an individual or PAC.

Can I get a list of who has voted early in Kentucky?

Not until the election is over. The county clerk keeps lists of mail-in and in-person absentee voters, but KRS 117.086(4) keeps them closed until after the close of business on election day. Build your early-voting and mail program from the five-year voting history in the State Board's file, and treat the three days of no-excuse voting (the Thursday through Saturday before the election) as part of election day.

What does it cost to file for local office in Kentucky?

$50 for county offices, mayor, and city council or commission; $20 for a board of education seat (KRS 118.255, State Board fee table). The fee is paid to the county clerk when you file. Kentucky does not require a large signature petition for these offices; ask the county clerk for the nomination form for your office and the number of signers it needs.

Are city elections in Kentucky partisan?

By default no. City officers are elected under the nonpartisan rules in KRS 83A.045 unless the city legislative body has adopted an ordinance choosing partisan elections (KRS 83A.050), and a home rule city can also skip its nonpartisan primary by ordinance so that everyone goes straight to the November ballot with a June filing deadline. County offices are partisan with a May primary; school boards are nonpartisan.

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Sources

Facts on this page were checked against the official sources below on September 9, 2026. Rules change between cycles; when a number here and the agency disagree, the agency is right.