By Meghan McCann
There are 7,383 state legislators in the United States.
From age and residency requirements to fees, paperwork and petitions, states vary in how those legislators became candidates and gained access to the ballot. NCSL’s elections team has compiled this information in a one-stop shop.
The How to Become a Candidate for State Legislator project was developed by Mark Listes, a student at William and Mary Law School, former legal intern at NCSL, and current employee at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Generally, candidate qualifications include age, state and district residency, U.S. citizenship and voter registration. States also may bar people with some kinds of felonies from serving as legislators (or in other elected offices). Every state has its own set of paperwork that must be filed by all potential candidates. This process starts with declaration of candidacy forms, and continues through campaign finance reporting requirements.
In addition to that initial form, states may also chose to require a filing fee, a petition with signatures, or both. Thirty-one states require major party candidates to pay filing fees; 20 states require independent candidates to do so. Nineteen states don’t require major party candidates to pay filing fees, and 30 states do not require independent candidates to do so. Instead, they require a petition process.
Further, 13 of the states that ask for filing fees have an exemption to filing fees for indigent candidates. This means that instead of paying a fee, the candidate can obtain access to the ballot through the state’s petition process.
Petition requirements are all over the map.
All 50 states have a petition process. The majority require either major party or independent candidates to file petitions. The number of signatures required, anywhere from 2-10,000, and the designated group of people who can sign petitions also varies across the states. Further, who may sign the petition varies as well. Signatures may be required to be collected from the population of eligible voters in the state or district, or from a percentage of a designated population, such as those that voted for the governor in the last election.
Check out the full list of resources from the “How to Become a Candidate for State Legislator” project: Who Can Become a Candidate for State Legislator, Paperwork Requirements, Petition Requirements and Filing Fees.
Meghan McCann is a policy specialist with NCSL.
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