LWV Brochure Running for Office by BernieOHare on Scribd
If you're running for local office for the first time, there are lots of landmines that can ruin your campaign before it even gets off the ground. You better be sure that you have twice the number of signatures that you need because, all too often, people will sign nomination petitions without paying much attention to political party or whether they are even registered. The second most important requirement is to make sure you provide a copy of your Statement of Financial Interests with the Clerk of your municipality. That's in addition to attaching it to the nomination petition you file with the elections office. Every municipal cycle, several candidates bounced for this simple mistake.
Fortunately, a candidate workshop is being conducted this weekend by the League of Women Voters. It takes place Saturday, January 21, from 8:30 am until noon at Penn State Lehigh Valley, Room 135, 2809 Saucon Valley Road, Center Valley, PA 18034.
You can sleep through most of it. There's no need to listen to local party bosses. If you think they will help you, you're nuts. You need your own team. You can also snooze through Bill White's lecture on working with the press. In a local race, there's basically no press. You'll be lucky to see one story about your race,
The time to pay attention is when Tim Benyo, Lehigh County's Elections Register, speaks. That's where the real landmines are located.
2 comments:
Speaking from experience, you'd be amazed at how many people don't know what party they are registered as or claim they are registered to vote and they are not. Anyone gathering petition signatures should have the walking papers list from the county elections office. You need to know their party and registration status BEFORE you ask for their signature. And, yes, get twice what you need. Once you file your nominating petition it's a public document and can be challenged.
I think I'll pass. Nobody in their right mind would vote for me anyway. 😆
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