//Run for office · Virginia

How to run for local office in Virginia

In Virginia, a city council or school board candidate files ballot papers with the general registrar, needs 125 petition signatures, faces no contribution limits, and runs in November even in odd years.

Facts checked against official sources · September 9, 2026

Virginia is organized around 95 counties and 38 independent cities that are not part of any county, plus towns inside counties. Each county and city has a general registrar and electoral board that register voters, run 45 days of early voting, and take local candidates' ballot-access forms. Since 2022 every election for mayor, governing body, and elected school board is held at the November general election (Va. Code 15.2-1400(E)); because Virginia elects its legislature in odd years, many localities vote for local offices in November 2027 alongside the House of Delegates and Senate.

Three things a first-time local candidate should know. The Department of Elections (Virginia has no Secretary of State role in elections) sells the voter file only to candidates, parties, PACs, and a few others, with full date of birth included, priced by record count with a $33 minimum. Campaign finance reports for local office go to the Department electronically through COMET, not to the registrar, and Virginia sets no limit on contributions. And Virginia has no-excuse early and mail voting with a Daily Absentee Report you can buy for $76 for the whole absentee period.

Election authority: Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT)
Voter file: Restricted — limited requesters or uses · Priced by record count when the invoice is created: $33 minimum for a report of 10,000 records or fewer, then, as posted, $.30 per thousand for 10,000-100,000 records, $.20 per thousand for 100,000-800,000, and $0.0095 per thousand for 800,000 or more. The Daily Absentee Report is $76 for the entire absentee period (ELECT Client Services page, checked 2026-09-09).
Campaign finance: COMET (Committee Electronic Tracking System) (Virginia Department of Elections, Campaign Finance)
How voters vote: In person, with no-excuse mail voting
Registration deadline: 11 days before the election (records close for the 10 days before under Va. Code 24.2-416; October 23, 2026 for November 3, 2026). After that you can still register in person at the registrar's office or your polling place through election day and vote a provisional ballot (Va. Code 24.2-420.1).
Local offices: Mixed by choice. A local candidate can seek a Democratic or Republican nomination (by primary or party method) or run as an independent, and many local candidates do. Check the current candidate bulletin for how your office is labeled on the ballot.

Who runs elections in Virginia

Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) ELECT publishes a candidate bulletin for each election with the exact forms, deadlines, and signature counts; sells voter lists through Client Services; runs COMET, the campaign finance filing system every candidate uses; and certifies results. For a local race you file ballot papers with your general registrar, but ELECT sets the rules, receives your campaign finance reports, and posts your name on the statewide candidate list.

Each of the 95 counties and 38 independent cities has a general registrar (director of elections) and an electoral board. The registrar registers voters, runs early voting at the registrar's office and satellite sites, mails absentee ballots, and accepts a local candidate's Certificate of Candidate Qualification, Statement of Economic Interests, declaration of candidacy, and petitions. Towns do not have registrars; the county registrar handles town voters and town candidates. Independent cities handle their own elections separately from the surrounding county.

Getting the Virginia 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 Virginia it comes from Virginia Department of Elections, Client Services.

Access: Restricted — limited requesters or uses
Cost: Priced by record count when the invoice is created: $33 minimum for a report of 10,000 records or fewer, then, as posted, $.30 per thousand for 10,000-100,000 records, $.20 per thousand for 100,000-800,000, and $0.0095 per thousand for 800,000 or more. The Daily Absentee Report is $76 for the entire absentee period (ELECT Client Services page, checked 2026-09-09).
Format: Comma-delimited text file, one row per voter, delivered after ELECT confirms eligibility.
Vote history: Not included
Phone numbers: Not included
Updated: The Registered Voter List is a snapshot. A Monthly Update Subscription (MUS) delivers voter-initiated additions, changes, and deletions each month; the Newly Registered Voters List covers registrations on selected dates; the Daily Absentee Report updates through the absentee period.

Who can get it: Candidates for election or party nomination, political party committees, PACs with a current statement of organization on file with ELECT or the FEC, incumbent officeholders (to report to constituents), nonprofit voter-participation organizations, and courts (Va. Code 24.2-405 and 24.2-406). Members of the public can buy only the List of Those Who Voted.

Permitted use: Campaign and political purposes and reporting to constituents. You may not publish any of the list on the Internet in a searchable form, and no list ever contains social security numbers.

County option: Order the Registered Voter List for a single county, city, legislative district, or election district; the price is by record count, so a district list is usually the $33 minimum. Everything is ordered from ELECT Client Services.

Registered Voter List fields: full name, residence address, mailing address, gender, full date of birth, registration date, date last registration form received, registration status, locality, precinct, voting districts, and voter ID. No party field: Virginia has no party registration.
Vote history is a separate product: the Vote History List (four years, by election, with whether the voter voted in person or absentee) and the List of Those Who Voted for a single election, which ELECT posts within 7 days of receiving it from registrars (registrars have 14 days after the election).
Phone numbers and email addresses are not among the data elements listed on the Client Services page for any list.

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 Virginia

Local offices in Virginia (board of supervisors, city council, town council, mayor, school board, and the constitutional offices) get on the November ballot one of three ways: winning a party primary, being nominated by a party method such as a mass meeting or convention, or filing as an independent. Every candidate files a Certificate of Candidate Qualification (ELECT-501) and, in most localities, a Statement of Economic Interests with the general registrar of the locality where they live. Independents and primary candidates also file a Declaration of Candidacy with petitions; primary candidates pay a filing fee. There is no fee to run in the general election.

File with: General registrar of your locality of residence for the certificate, economic-interest statement, and (independents) declaration and petitions. Primary candidates file the declaration, petitions, and fee receipt with the local party chair; the primary fee itself goes to the locality's treasurer or director of finance.
Filing fee: None for the general election. Primary candidates pay 2% of one year's minimum salary for the office (Va. Code 24.2-523), or $5 for an unsalaried office, to the locality treasurer; refunded if unopposed or disqualified.
Petition: Governing body or school board of a county or city: 125 signatures of qualified voters, or 50 if you are running from a district with 1,000 or fewer registered voters. Town council or school board: 125 if the town has more than 3,500 registered voters, 50 if 1,500 to 3,500, none if fewer than 1,500; ward seats 25 (Va. Code 24.2-506, version effective January 1, 2027). Signatures can be collected from January 1 of the election year.
Partisan?: Mixed by choice. A local candidate can seek a Democratic or Republican nomination (by primary or party method) or run as an independent, and many local candidates do. Check the current candidate bulletin for how your office is labeled on the ballot.

Filing window: For any office filled at the November general election, independent and non-primary party candidates file by 7:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday in June (Va. Code 24.2-507); filing opens the first business day of January. Primary candidates file by 5:00 p.m. on the 75th day before the primary (Va. Code 24.2-522), and the primary is the third Tuesday in June (Va. Code 24.2-515), so in a normal year the primary deadline lands around April 1. Mailed forms count if sent registered or certified mail on or before the deadline.

Key Virginia dates
What	When	Note
Primary filing deadline, November 2, 2027 local offices (primary candidates)	April 1, 2027	5:00 p.m., 75th day before the June 15, 2027 primary (Va. Code 24.2-522, 24.2-515). Computed from statute; ELECT's 2027 local bulletin will confirm.
Primary election, 2027	June 15, 2027	Third Tuesday in June (Va. Code 24.2-515).
Filing deadline, independent and non-primary party candidates, November 2, 2027 general	June 15, 2027	7:00 p.m., third Tuesday in June (Va. Code 24.2-507). File with the general registrar of your locality of residence.
Voter registration deadline, November 2, 2027 general	October 22, 2027	Registration records close for the 10 days before the election (Va. Code 24.2-416 as amended 2025); ELECT lists the deadline as 11 days before. Same-day registration with a provisional ballot continues through election day.
General election, 2027 (House of Delegates, Senate, and local offices on the odd-year cycle)	November 2, 2027	Early voting runs 45 days before through the Saturday before, October 30, 2027.

Campaign finance rules in Virginia

State-level campaign finance in Virginia is overseen by Virginia Department of Elections, Campaign Finance through COMET (Committee Electronic Tracking System).

Where local candidates file: Candidates for local and constitutional offices file all campaign finance reports electronically with the State Board through COMET and are not required to file reports with the general registrar (Va. Code 24.2-947.5(B)). The one paper step is the Statement of Organization: you create it in COMET within 10 days of meeting the conditions in Va. Code 24.2-947.1, then print two signed copies, one to ELECT and one to the general registrar of your locality. Local candidates who will not take contributions and will spend no more than $1,000 of their own money can file a request for exemption instead of reports.

Contribution limits: There are no contribution limits in Virginia (ELECT Candidate Committee Summary of Laws, section 3.1). A committee can accept any amount from any individual, corporation, union, association, or partnership, but every contribution must be reported with the contributor's identifying information. The rule that matters is disclosure: keep records for every dollar, including your own.

Reporting: ELECT publishes the reporting schedule for each cycle and COMET shows your due dates. Local candidates file pre-election and post-election reports around each primary and general and periodic reports while the committee stays open; a final report closes the committee. Exempt candidates file only a final report before taking office.

Limits and thresholds change. Treat the figures here as a starting point and confirm the current schedule with Virginia Department of Elections, Campaign Finance before you accept a check. Our campaign finance basics guide covers the bookkeeping every local candidate needs on day one.

How voting works in Virginia

In person, with no-excuse mail voting. Any registered Virginia voter can vote early in person or by mail without giving a reason. Early voting starts 45 days before election day at the general registrar's office (plus satellite sites in larger localities) and ends the Saturday before. Election day polls are open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Early voting: 45 days before the election through the Saturday before (September 18 through October 31, 2026 for the November 3 general). No application; show ID or sign an ID confirmation statement.
Mail ballots: No excuse. Apply online or with the registrar; ballots go out starting 45 days before the election, and applications are accepted through 11 days before (October 23, 2026). Return by 7:00 p.m. election day to the registrar or a drop-off location, or by mail postmarked by election day and received by noon on the third day after.
Registration deadline: 11 days before the election (records close for the 10 days before under Va. Code 24.2-416; October 23, 2026 for November 3, 2026). After that you can still register in person at the registrar's office or your polling place through election day and vote a provisional ballot (Va. Code 24.2-420.1).
Same-day registration: Yes

Knowing who has already voted: Buy ELECT's Daily Absentee Report ($76, covers the entire absentee period, the Va. Code 24.2-706 list of applicants) for your locality or district: it shows who has applied for and returned a mail ballot and who has voted early in person, updated through the absentee period, and it is the ballot-chase file for a 45-day early-voting state. After the election, the List of Those Who Voted shows in-person versus absentee for each voter, and the Vote History List covers four years.

Local government in Virginia: what you can run for

Virginia has 95 counties and 38 independent cities. A city is not part of any county: city voters elect a city council and the city's own constitutional officers and never vote for a county board. Towns sit inside counties and elect a mayor and town council while their residents also vote in county elections. Counties are governed by boards of supervisors elected by district; most school boards are elected; and every county and city elects five constitutional officers (sheriff, commonwealth's attorney, treasurer, commissioner of the revenue, and clerk of the circuit court). Soil and water conservation directors are also elected. There are no townships.

Board of supervisors member (county)
City council member
Mayor (city or town)
Town council member
Town recorder / town treasurer
School board member
Sheriff
Commonwealth's attorney
Treasurer
Commissioner of the revenue
Clerk of the circuit court
Soil and water conservation district director

When local elections happen: All local elections are in November: beginning with elections after January 1, 2022, mayors, governing bodies, and elected school boards are elected at the November general election for terms starting January 1 (Va. Code 15.2-1400(E)), which ended Virginia's May town and city elections. Localities are on either the odd-year cycle (with the General Assembly in 2027 and statewide offices in 2029) or the even-year cycle (with federal races), and terms are staggered in many places, so check your locality's charter. Primaries are the third Tuesday in June.

Running your Virginia campaign on Culper

Culper does not license voter data in Virginia today. You upload the Virginia 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 Virginia 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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Virginia questions we get asked

Where does a Virginia city council candidate file, and does living in an independent city change anything?

You file the Certificate of Candidate Qualification, Statement of Economic Interests, and (if independent) your declaration and 125-signature petition with the general registrar of the city you live in; primary candidates file the declaration and petitions with the city party chair. Virginia's 38 independent cities are not in any county, so there is no county board, county registrar, or county office involved; the city runs its own election and elects its own sheriff, treasurer, and other constitutional officers.

How many signatures does a Virginia school board or council candidate need?

125 qualified voters for a county or city governing body or school board seat, or 50 if your election district has 1,000 or fewer registered voters. Town seats scale with the town: 125 signatures above 3,500 registered voters, 50 at 1,500 to 3,500, none below 1,500, and 25 for a ward seat (Va. Code 24.2-506). Petitions may be circulated starting January 1 of the election year and filed page by page through the deadline.

What are Virginia's contribution limits for local candidates?

There are none. Virginia does not cap contributions to candidates from individuals, corporations, unions, or PACs (ELECT's Candidate Committee Summary of Laws, section 3.1). Everything must be disclosed in COMET, and local candidates file those reports with the Department of Elections, not the registrar (Va. Code 24.2-947.5).

Who sells the Virginia voter list, and can a candidate get date of birth?

The Virginia Department of Elections, through Client Services, and only to candidates, party committees, PACs, incumbents, and voter-participation nonprofits (Va. Code 24.2-405). The Registered Voter List includes full date of birth, gender, addresses, registration dates, status, precinct, and districts, but no phone numbers and no party, since Virginia has no party registration. Pricing is by record count with a $33 minimum.

How do I know who has already voted during Virginia's 45-day early voting period?

Buy the Daily Absentee Report from ELECT Client Services ($76 for the whole absentee period). It lists who has applied for a mail ballot, who has returned it, and who has voted early in person, so you can stop mailing and knocking voters who are done. Virginia has no-excuse early voting from 45 days out through the Saturday before the election, and registration is open until 11 days before with same-day provisional registration after that.

When are Virginia local elections, and is 2027 a local election year?

Every local election has been held at the November general election since 2022 (Va. Code 15.2-1400(E)). Virginia elects its General Assembly in odd years, so November 2, 2027 carries House of Delegates and Senate races plus every locality whose council, board, or school board terms fall in odd years; other localities elect in even years with federal races. Independent and non-primary candidates for November 2027 file by 7 p.m. on June 15, 2027; primary candidates by 5 p.m. on April 1, 2027.

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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.