The 2006 Ohio Candidate Requirements Guide may be obtained from any Board of Elections Office or the Secretary of State's Office. The Delaware County Board of Elections may be reached by calling (740)-833-2080 or (740)-548-7313, ext. 2080

Rules Governing Petitions

1. The "Statement of Candidacy" portion of the petition must be completely filled out and signed by the candidate before being circulated.
(R.C. 3513.07, 3513.261)

2. Only qualified electors may sign a petition. An elector's qualifications are determined as of the date the petition is filed.
(R.C. 3501.38 (A))

3. Signatures must be in ink. "Signature" means that person's written, cursive-style legal mark written in that person's own hand.
(R.C. 3501.38 (B), 3501.011)

4. Signatures must be personally affixed by registered electors who are qualified to vote on the candidacy. The person's name also may be printed underneath or next to the signature.
(R.C. 3501.38)

5. Each signer's residence address and the date of signing must be placed on the petition after the elector's signature.
(R.C. 3501.38 (C))

6. Petitions for a candidate for party nomination must be signed and circulated by qualified voters who are members of the same political party as the candidate.
(R.C. 3513.05)

An elector is considered to be a member of a political party if the elector voted in the primary election of only that party within the preceding two calendar years, or did not vote in any other party's primary election within the preceding two calendar years.
(R.C. 3513.05)

7.a. A candidate may circulate his or her own petition, but cannot sign his or her own petition as an elector. For the purpose of circulating his or her own petition, a candidate is exempted from the party affiliation requirements described above.
(R.C. 3513.191 (C)(4))

b. A circulator may not sign the same petition paper that he or she is circulating; an otherwise eligible circulator may, however, sign a petition paper being circulated for the same candidacy by a different circulator.

8. After circulating the petition, circulators must sign a statement on each petition paper, under penalty of election falsification:

a. Indicating the number of signatures contained on the petition;

b. That the circulator witnessed the affixing of each signature on the petition;

c. That all signers, to the best of the circulator's knowledge and belief, were qualified to sign; and

d. That each signature is, to the best of the circulator's knowledge and belief, the signature of the person whose signature it purports to be. If a circulator knowingly permits an unqualified person to sign a petition paper or permits a person to write a name other than the person's own on a petition paper, that petition paper is invalid; otherwise, the signature of a person not qualified to sign shall be rejected, but shall not invalidate the other valid signatures on the paper.
(R.C. 3501.38 (E)) and (F)

9. Once a petition has been filed, it cannot be changed, supplemented or withdrawn.
(R.C. 3501.38 (I))

10. The original petition with the candidate's original signature must be filed at the same time as all part-petitions are filed.
(R.C. 3801.38 (K))

11. Each petition paper shall be circulated by one person only, and shall contain signatures of qualified electors of one county only. When petitions are circulated in a district that contains more than one county, separate petition papers must be circulated in each county.
(R.C. 3501.38, 3513.05, 3513.07, 3513.261)

12. No petition shall contain more than three times the minimum number of required signatures.
(R.C. 3513.05, 3513.257, 3513.259)

13. All petitions must contain the following statement in boldface capital letters: "WHOEVER COMMITS ELECTION FALSIFICATION IS GUILTY OF A FELONY OF THE FIFTH DEGREE."
(R.C. 3501.38 (J), 3599.36)

14. All petitions remain open for public inspection, under reasonable regulations, at the board of elections in which they were filed.
(R.C. 3513.05, 3513.262)

Campaign Finance Report
Each candidate will receive materials from the board of elections pertaining to campaign finance reporting at the time the candidate files his or her petition of candidacy.
(R.C. 3517.11)
A "Designation of Treasurer" (Form 30-D) must be filed prior to the receipt or expenditure of any contributions, including personal funds spent by the candidate used to further the campaign (except for payment of the candidate's filing fee from the candidate's personal funds).
(R.C. 3517.10)

Campaign Literature
Campaign literature issued by a candidate's campaign committee must state "paid for by" followed by the name of the committee and the residence or business address of the candidate, chairperson, treasurer or secretary of the campaign committee and must be located in a conspicuous place, unless the information is contained within the communication.

If more than one piece of printed matter is mailed as a single packet, the disclaimer requirement is considered to be met if one of the pieces of printed matter contains the disclaimer.
(R.C. 3517.20)

Exemptions to the disclaimer requirement have been granted by rule of the Secretary of State for specified articles. Specific exemptions for articles may be requested by sending a written request to the Office of the Secretary of State, Legal Division, 180 E. Broad St., 16th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215. The request should include the requestor's name, address, telephone number and a full description of the item for which the exemption is requested, including the item's measurements and material.

Each candidate at the time of filing a declaration of candidacy, nominating petition or declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate, will receive a copy of Section 3517.21 of the Ohio Revised Code, which prohibits certain unfair political campaign activities.
(R.C. 3513.33)

The following links provide more information you will need to run for office.

Qualifications for Elected Offices
Terms of Office