Anyone interested in running for office at the state and county levels this year needs to get their paperwork in next week.
The new candidate filing period is Monday, February 28 through Friday, March 4. Previously it had been March 7 to 11 before Governor Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 170 into law Monday.
In future elections during even-numbered years, the filing window will be even earlier: the first week of January.
Summit County Clerk Eve Furse tells KPCW that unlike in past years, the new schedule means candidates will already be determined when local party caucuses take place.
She says state government employees notified her and other counties of the changes as legislators considered the bill. She said the change passed with support from both political parties because it gives voters the opportunity to know their candidates before caucuses. In past years, all candidates may not have declared their candidacies before the caucuses.
In Summit County and Wasatch County, the Republican Party caucus nights are scheduled for Tuesday, March 8, and Democratic Party caucuses are Tuesday, March 22.
Seats for county council, the Sheriffs’ offices and other positions in Summit and Wasatch counties will be on ballots in November. Local voters will also vote for senators and representatives at the state and local levels in this year’s election.
For election notices, how to file as a candidate for office and other information, visit summitcounty.org or wasatch.utah.gov.
