Interested in Running for Local Office? Here Are 7 Steps to Get Started.
Who Can Run for Local Office? Anyone.
To run for President of the United States, you have been born in the United States and be at least 35 years old. But to run for local elected offices like City Council, County Commission, School Board, State Representative, or even Congress — in most places in America, you only need to be 18 or 21 years old and have lived in the area for a short period of time (six months to one year) before the date of the next election.
To run for City Council in the City of South Fulton, you must be:
- At least 21 years of age by August 25, 2023
- A resident of the City of South Fulton since November 7, 2022 (one year prior to Election Day)
- A resident of the City Council District for which you intend to run since February 25, 2023 (6 months prior to qualifying, see below)
You do not need to own a home, have a degree or any specific certifications to run for most elected offices in the United States — and that is exactly how it should be. A truly representative elected body should have members who represent all aspects of a community: young & old, rich & poor, married & single, white & blue collar, male & female, heterosexual & queer, American-born citizens & immigrants, renters & homeowners. It takes everyone to represent everyone. For most elected offices in most places, even convicted felons are eligible to be elected IF they have completed their sentence and had their rights restored.
If you are a former felon interested in voting or running for local office, do an internet search on Felon Rights Restoration in your state. Here is a national database of felon rights restoration rules by state.
STEP 1: Do Your RESEARCH.
Many people want to run for office because they want to make a difference in their community. If this is you, ask yourself these two questions:
1) What specifically do you want to change or improve?
2) Which elected offices impact the issues you care about?
If you want to improve the schools in your community or change the laws regarding child support, running for City Council is probably not a good fit for you. Schools are governed by your local School Board. Many of the laws regarding children & families are made in the State Legislature.
The powers and duties of any elected office can vary from place to place, even within the same state, For example, in Georgia some School Board races are partisan — meaning you must declare a political affiliation as a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Working Families Party, etc. — while others are nonpartisan.
Unsure of Who Your Local Electeds Are?
Then this is where your research begins!
Several national organizations, such as Vote Smart, Branch and Common Cause, have search tools that help you find your local elected officials & legislative districts.
Branch’s Local Election Info Finder
Common Cause’s Local Elections Search Tool
Organizations like the New Georgia Project are developing mobile phone apps that give detailed information on your local electeds — including who their top campaign donors are!
Often, your County will have the most up-to-date information on local races and elected officials. This is especially true after a decennial census when voting districts are redrawn; or the even rarer occasion that an entirely new municipality is created. The organizations above do not yet have accurate information for the City of South Fulton, which was created by a voter referendum in 2016. But a search tool with accurate data on the City of South Fulton and its districts can be found on the Fulton County website, linked below.
Fulton County, Georgia Voting District Finder
Step 2: Do MORE Research
Once you have figured out WHERE in government you want to have an impact, you should study HOW that office works.
Find out when & where your local City Council, School Board, County or Public Service Commission, etc. meets and begin attending their meetings regularly. If you cannot make the meetings, you can usually find them online. Many local governments post videos of their meetings to YouTube.
Watch Videos of South Fulton City Council Meetings here
By attending regular meetings of the governing body you want to join, not only will you learn exactly how that governing body makes decisions and the issues being currently debated in your city. You will also get to see how people who are currently elected to that body govern themselves.
Most governing bodies also have Working Groups or Committees focused on a particular issue (e.g., Planning & Zoning, Public Safety, Community Advisory Boards, or a School Board’s Textbook Review Committee). Volunteer for one of these groups to develop your expertise on issues that matter to you.
Watch City of South Fulton, GA Zoning Meetings
You may learn that assisting elected officials satisfies your calling to improve your community. If you still decide to run for office after doing these things, you will be a more knowledgeable (and respected) candidate.
Step 3: Work With Other Elected or On Someone’s Campaign
After attending a few meetings, you may find that you have much to learn before you are ready to run for office. One of the best ways to learn how an elected office works is to volunteer for an elected official whose ideas or governing style you admire.
These days, anyone with 1,000 ‘friends’ on social media thinks they are popular enough to run for office. But campaigning for office is more than a popularity contest. (Many first-time candidates are shocked to discover 900 of their 1,000 friends cannot vote for them because they do not live in the same district; and of the remaining 100, half are not even registered to vote!)
There is a science running to a winning campaign. The best way to study this subject is to work on a campaign. Whether your candidate wins or loses, you will gain invaluable, behind-the-scenes experience and be introduced to a universe of Field Directors & other campaign consultants who help others get elected for a living.
STEP 4: Discuss Running for Office With Your Family (and Your Employer)
Running for elected office can be costly and time-consuming. Even in very small towns, running a winning City Council or School Board campaign can cost $10,000 (to pay for yard signs, mailers, gas, food and stipends for volunteers). Regardless of the size of your race, you will certainly spend the 3–4 weeks before your Election Day working 10–12 hours per day on your campaign.
Your personal life and the personal lives of your loved ones — including all of your social media — will come under strict scrutiny. This can be very hard for children or spouses who may not share your enthusiasm to be a public figure.
If you already have a full-time job, you should plan on missing several days of work during your campaign; and even more if you are elected. If you have a family, you should plan on missing many important events (birthdays, weddings, family vacations and school plays) during your campaign.
Winning your race only ensures your sacrifices will continue. Though classified as a “part-time” job, being a local elected can be all-consuming. In addition to the regular meetings of your elected body, you will be called on to meet with leaders of other elected bodies and with the business community. You may be required to attend out-of-town trainings for elected officials; be invited to attend homeowners’ association meetings, school, church and other community events; and be expected to comfort constituents on the scene of local tragedies like hurricanes or tornados; school shootings or a town hall about trash collection or low student test scores.
In order to accommodate your new public schedule, you may have to reduce the hours you work at your current job — or resign altogether! Some companies, whose employees work on government contracts, require that their employees obtain permission before even running for office.
If you are thinking of running for local office, you should definitely discuss all this with your immediate family and employers.
Most local elected offices pay very little. Outside of capital cities like Atlanta, New York or Los Angeles, most City Councilmembers make $10,000 or less. In many conservative states, school board members make around $20,000 per year. Many of these jobs are classified as “part-time,” even if doing them well requires a full-time commitment.
Some local electeds have tried to compensate for low salaries with health benefits; and augment their part-time classifications with full-time staff. City of South Fulton Councilmembers make $27,000 per year. South Futon’s Mayor makes $37,000 (about $19 per hour). However, each South Fulton Councilmember receives free physical, vision, dental and mental health insurance; a ten percent salary match in employee retirement; and a budget of over $150,000 per year for local events & initiatives, full-time administrative staff, interns, travel and training.
While state legislators in progressive states are paid salaries from $60,000 per year to well into six figures, Georgia State Legislators make $22,000 per year — far below the national average of $48,280 per year. Studies published in 2000 and 2004 found states whose legislators are paid full-time salaries and are given more staff and larger budgets; they meet more frequently, are more efficient and have more contact with constituents who report they are more attentive to their citizens’ concerns. They are also more likely to write their own legislation, as opposed to presenting legislation written by corporate lobbyists. Low-paying legislatures tend to be less diverse, with fewer working-class representatives and more lawmakers who are retired or have high-paying jobs that do not require them to be present at work every day.
“We call lawmakers public servants. That’s a slave term.” Mayor khalid
“We’re public accountants,” says the South Fulton Mayor. “Our job is to look after millions of taxpayer dollars. I don’t know any private company with a balance sheet in the millions or billions who pays their accountants wages as low as elected officials.”
Compare Salaries for State Legislators Nationwide
Georgia Legislators Discuss How Low Salaries Affect Them
When considering running for local elected office, you must consider how the time commitments and salary constraints of these positions might affect your own ‘bottom line.’
STEP 5: File Your Declaration of Intent (DOI)
If you decide to take the leap to run for office, filing a Declaration of Intent (DOI) is how you make your decision official. khalidCares.com/Vote
If you decide to take the leap to run for office, filing a FREE Declaration of Intent (DOI) form is how you make your decision official. You can always change your mind and “drop out” of the race after you have filed a DOI, but this is a required step to start.
In Georgia, you must do file a Declaration of Intent (DOI) before you begin collecting any campaign donations!
A DOI form can be obtained from, and filed with, the Clerk’s Office of the municipality in which you are running for elected office. Click the links below to find the Clerk’s Office for the City of South Fulton and the Board of Elections for Fulton County.
Declaration of Intent Form — Georgia Candidates
City of South Fulton Clerk’s Office
Fulton County Board of Elections
STEP 6: Qualifying
There are deadlines to declare your intent to run. The final time for anyone to announce they are running for a particular office is called the Qualifying Period. In most places in Georgia, Qualifying happens around 60 days before the start of Early Voting. For November races, Qualifying usually happens in August. The Qualifying Period can be just one day or an entire week.
The Qualifying Period for South Fulton’s 2023 City Council Elections is Monday, August 21 at 8:30 a.m. to Friday, August 25 at 4:30 p.m. During this week, South Fulton City’s Clerk will verify that each candidate meets South Fulton’s residency and eligibility requirements. Each person running for office must pay $830.28 (three percent of the total salary for the office) to the South Fulton City Clerk to go through this process and have their name placed on the ballot.
The requirements to run for State and County offices are set by Georgia’s (or your state’s) Secretary of State (S.O.S.).
The requirements to run for City Council or School Board are set by each individual municipality. Contact your City Clerk, or the elected body’s Secretary, to learn all the qualifications necessary to run.
Though you may begin campaigning informally before this period (if you have filled out a Declaration of Intent), this Qualifying Week is the time in which your City/County Clerk or Board of Elections will officially confirm that you meet all the qualifications to run for the elected office you are seeking and provide paperwork for you to state how you would like your name to appear on the ballot.
Many candidates use the day they go down to the Elections office to “qualify” as a time to hold a campaign rally.
Pro Tip: Do NOT wait until Qualifying Day to announce your campaign.
Some candidates, hoping to gain the “element of surprise,” wait until the very last minute — Qualifying Week — to announce their candidacy for elected office. This NEVER works.
Unless you are a celebrity candidate, or the person holding the office you are running for resigns in a major scandal, news outlets are not going to cover your local race. (Consider this, how many news stories have you read or seen about City Council or School Board election outside of those in your state’s capital or major cities?
While 50 to 60 percent of all Registered Voters turn out to vote in Presidential elections, Voter Turnout in Local elections averages around 15 percent. Not only is the turnout for local elections low, but it is likely to be less representative of the age, ethnicity and income of your community. Turnout of affluent voters is 30–50 percent higher than low-income voters. Voters over 65 are seven times more likely to vote in local elections than those aged 18 to 34. If your plans to win include reaching younger voters or inspiring those who do not normally vote, you will need even more time and money to reach these groups.
Qualifying happens just 60 days before Early Voting begins. Unless you are independently wealthy, you will likely not have enough time to raise the thousands of dollars it takes to run a successful campaign.
It can take even the most experienced candidates and campaign managers months to put together a reliable team of staff and volunteers, or figure out which issues resonate most with local voters. Losing campaigns are littered with stories of candidates who thought they would have dozens of volunteers from their family, friends, fraternity or church. These people may come canvass (knock doors) or make phone calls for you for free once or twice, but will not be consistent over the life of your campaign. If you think your campaign will be different, talk with a successful entrepreneur — they will tell you that relying on friends & family alone for the success of a big venture is a recipe for failure.
The earlier you announce your campaign, the more time you have to raise funds for and awareness of your campaign and work out the ‘kinks’ in staff and messaging.
STEP 7: Personal & Campaign Financial Disclosure Reports (PFDs & CCDRs)
As previously stated, running for local elected office can be very expensive. Densley-populated cities have thousands of voters to reach. In suburban and rural areas like South Fulton, where voters are farther apart, it will take more time (and gas money for you & your volunteers).
In many states like Georgia, candidates who do not win 50 Percent Plus One of the total vote in their election must compete in a Runoff Election to be declared the winner. In races with three or more people, it is highly unlikely for a single candidate to get over 50 percent of the vote in the first election. A Runoff Election will be required. After Democrats Raphael Warnock & Jon Ossoff won elections to become Georgia’s first Black & Jewish U.S. Senators since Reconstruction, Georgia’s Republican-controlled State Legislature changed Election Laws to require Runoffs to be held 30 days immediately after your first Election.
In 2021, candidates for South Fulton City Council spent an average of $30,000 each to run for office in regular and Runoff Elections.
In order to ensure that candidates running for office are not funding their campaigns with foreign or illegal money; and ensure that the money raised by candidates is spent only for campaigning or governing, those running for and elected to office must regularly file Personal & Campaign Finance Disclosure Reports (PFDs & CCDRs). These reports must be filed multiple times throughout the campaign and after the campaign is over — even if you do not win elected office.
The Personal Financial Disclosure (PFD) requires you take state all the Real Estate you and your Spouse Own, and all the financial instruments and business interests you and your spouse have from which you derive income. One purpose of these reports — which are made available to the public — is to ensure that as an elected official, you are not voting on profiting on votes where you have a personal, financial interest. Avoiding these Conflicts of Interest is part of the Oath of Office you will take if you win your Elected Office. It is the job of citizens and the media to review these reports regularly and hold you accountable to your oath.
Candidates cannot receive more than a set amount of money from any one person or company — even if contributions are split over multiple donations. The Campaign Contributions Disclosure Report (CCDR) requires you to report, every year, any person or company that gave you any money or anything of value over $100 — even if they gave it to you one dollar at a time. The Maximum Individual Contribution Limit varies depending on what office you are running for, with Contribution Limits for Congressional or Statewide seats being higher. For most of Georgia’s local elected offices, the Maximum Individual Contribution Limit is $3300 for the initial election; and another $1800 if you are in a Runoff Election.
Campaign Finance Rules for all City, County and State offices are set by your State Ethics Commission. As with all things in the campaign business, you can hire a professional campaign finance accountant to help fill these forms out. Contact the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission (a.k.a. Ethics Commission) at the links below to obtain Campaign Finance forms and to receive in-depth training on these issues and more.
Personal Financial Disclosure (PFD) Report — Georgia
Campaign Contributions Disclosure (CCDR) Report — Georgia
Running for local elected office is one of the most grueling but rewarding experiences any city can have; second only to winning and serving. I hope this information leaves you both educated and inspired.