Running for Office

 

Where to File

The Supervisor of Elections Office only handles qualifying for County Offices that are up for election.  Federal, State, and Multi-County Offices are handled through the Division of Elections in Tallahassee, City Offices are handled through the City Clerk’s Office in each city.

Getting Started

  • The DS-DE 9 Appointment of Campaign Treasurer Form must be filed with the Supervisor of Elections Office prior to opening a campaign account. This process is called Pre-filing. You cannot collect any contributions or make any expenditures until this form is filed.
  • Once the Appointment Form is filed with the Supervisor of Elections Office, within ten (10) days the Statement of Candidate Form DS-DE 84 must be filed. It states that a candidate has been provided access to, read and understands the requirements of Florida Statutes 106 which is Campaign Financing. Many times, a candidate will file this form with the Supervisor of Elections office at the same time as the DS-DE 9.
  • Monthly Campaign Reports must be electronically filed with the Supervisor of Elections Office and more frequently as the election draws closer. Candidates will be snail-mailed pin numbers and passwords after the pre-file packet is reviewed and the DS-DE 9 form is submitted by the Candidate.
  • In lieu of paying the qualifying fee during the qualifying period (deadline is noon, 67 days prior to the Primary Election), a candidate may collect a certain amount of petition signatures (deadline to submit petitions is noon, 28 days preceding 1st day of qualifying). The required amount of petitions is at least one percent of the total number of registered voters in the last General Election.  For special district offices the amount is 25 petitions.  Petitions are normally submitted to the Supervisor of Elections Office in batches of 50 – 500 at a time. The charge to submit petitions is 10¢ per petition and payment is due at the time petitions are submitted with a campaign check.  Petitions are entered into the computer and checked for correct information as well as signatures. Once verified (generally 2 - 3 days later), reports will be sent to the candidate to show the number of valid as well as invalid petitions and the reasons they may have been rejected. Once the petition requirement is met the candidate will be sent a letter to submit with qualifying forms.
  • Qualifying is a one week period in which a candidate must submit Oaths, Financial Disclosure Forms, and the Qualifying Fee or the Petition Completion letter. Qualifying begins at noon the 71st day prior to the Primary and ends no later than noon the 67th day prior to the Primary Election.  A candidate may turn in qualifying forms no earlier than 14 days prior to the beginning of Qualifying.

Check before you print

  • One must be a candidate and file the proper forms with the Supervisor of Elections Office.
  • Candidates must have political disclaimers printed on most Political Advertisements. 
  • As a courtesy, candidates may email the political disclaimer to the Supervisor of Elections Office for accuracy. (Not content of advertisement – only disclaimer portion.)

 

City Offices:

If interested in running for a city office please contact that city for more information.

Gulf Breeze       (850) 934-5100      http://cityofgulfbreeze.us/
Jay       (850) 675-4556      http://townofjayfl.com/
Milton       (850) 983-5400      https://www.miltonfl.org/

 

Tappie A. Villane, Supervisor of Elections, Santa Rosa County
OFFICE: 6495 Caroline St, Ste F, Milton, FL 32570 * PHONE: (850) 983-1900 * FAX: (850) 983-1829 * HOURS: M-F 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public-records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.