Candidates interested in running for any of the school or special districts or city offices up for election on Nov. 3 may file candidate papers with either the Santa Cruz County Elections Department for districts, or the appropriate City Clerk’s Office for city offices now through 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7.
Candidates must first complete a Preliminary Candidate Information worksheet on the Santa Cruz County Elections website at www.votescount.us, email it to the office, and then make an appointment to come in to file the required documents. All documents to be filed are posted online at www.votescount.us.
Candidates should complete the documents, print them at home and bring them to their appointment. The Declaration of Candidacy will be prepared at the office since it must be signed in front of an elections official or notary. If a candidate is unable to personally appear at the office, contact County Clerk Gail Pellerin at 831-454-2419 or info@votescount.us and other arrangements will be made.
A complete list of offices on the ballot are available at www.votescount.us . To see which districts you live in, go to https://electiondatalookup.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/
Offices up for election in November include boards of education, community college boards, unified and high school district boards, elementary school district boards, fire protection district boards, water district boards, port district commission, recreation district boards, other miscellaneous boards, as well as city council members in the four cities.
A person is eligible to be elected or appointed to the school and special district boards if that person is:
- 18 years old and a citizen of the state at the time of his/her election or appointment.
- a registered voter of the district or division and otherwise qualified to vote for that office at the time nomination papers are issued or at the time of the appointment.
- For the resource conservation district, appointees must be a registered voter of the state who resides in the district and either owns real property or have served two years or more as an associate director providing advisory assistance to the board, or be a designated agent of a resident landowner within the district.
- Candidates who file for city office must be a registered voter of the city.
- All candidates for city office must file a nomination petition with 20 valid signatures to have their name placed on the November ballot. In addition, Declarations of Candidacy must be filed with the appropriate City Clerk’s Office.
- Capitola City Clerk’s Office – 420 Capitola Ave., Capitola, CA 95010, 831-475-7300
- Santa Cruz City Clerk’s Office – 809 Center Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, 831-420-5038
- Scotts Valley City Clerk’s Office – 1 Civic Center Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, 831-440-5600
- Watsonville City Clerk’s Office – 275 Main St., 4th Floor, Watsonville, CA 95076, 831-768-3040
Declarations of Candidacy and Nomination Petitions for city office must be filed between July 13 and Aug. 7 with the City Clerk’s Office.
Appointment to each elective office will be made if there are no nominees or an insufficient number of nominees for the office.
At the time the candidate is filing a Declaration of Candidacy, that candidate has the option of submitting a 200-word statement of qualifications to be published in the County Voter Information Guide and posted online at the candidate’s expense.
Because strict rules and laws govern candidate filing, interested persons are encouraged to download the Candidate’s Handbook at www.votescount.us or call the Elections Department at 831-454-2060. Candidates for City Council should contact the City Clerk in their city.