Running for a Political Office

Harrison County has 10 incorporated towns:

Corydon - 18
Crandall - 1
Elizabeth - 1
Laconia - 1
Lanesville - 7
Mauckport - 1
Milltown - 7
New Amsterdam - 1
New Middletown - 1
Palmyra - 5

Each town should have an election this year.

The qualifications that must be met to run for a town office are:

Candidate must be registered to vote within the town limits
Candidate must reside within the town
Candidate must never have been convicted of a felony
Candidate is not a member of the United States armed forces on active duty
Candidate must file a declaration of candidacy before the deadline.

To run for a town office as a Democrat, Libertarian or Republican a voter needs to contact his/her respective County Chair:

Democrat – Graylin Porter - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Libertarian – Gregory Hertzsch – 812-282-6084
Republican – Scott Fluhr - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The voter should tell the Chair of his/her desire to be nominated. The filing period is January 4th through August 1st. If there is opposition the Chair must post a notice in the town of a Town Convention of that party no later than Friday, August 18th. The Chair must call a Town Convention to nominate the voter as a candidate no later than Monday, August 21st. The Chairman has until noon Monday August 28th to file a Certificate of Nomination with the Circuit Court Clerk.

Some town candidates chose to run as Independents which requires a petition signed by a number of voters that is equal to at least 2% of the total votes cast in the last election for Secretary of State in the election division they seek to represent. Those numbers are noted on the Town listing above. If running as an Independent, petitions may be filed in the Circuit Court Clerk’s office any time from now until noon June 30th. Independent candidates’ names are listed on the ballot after any Republicans, Democrats or Libertarians respectively and are listed in the order their petitions were filed. So, if there are no major party candidates, the first Independent candidate to file his/her petition will have his/her name at the top of the ballot.

If a perspective candidate doesn't like any of the other options, he/she can be a write-in candidate. These candidates must still file with the Clerk's office before noon July 3rd or any vote cast for them will be void. Their name will not appear on the ballot but a line labeled "write-in" will be added to the ballot.

Please file with the Clerk’s Office whichever CAN form you prefer, depending on if you wish to run as a major party candidate, an Independent or a write-in, as well as the CAN-12, which all candidates must file. If the office you seek pays $5,000 or more annually you must also file the CFA-1