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Information for Independent and Write-in Candidates

Independent Candidates

You may have your name placed on the General Election ballot as an independent candidate if you are not affiliated with a political party.  If you vote in a party’s primary elections or participate in a party’s convention, you thereby are affiliated with the party.  File the Declaration of Intent (As an Independent Candidate) form with the Hays County Judge for a county office.  Check with our office for required filing dates.  After the primary election, collect signatures from registered voters who support your application for a place on the general election ballot.  Signers must be registered voters who have not participated in the primary election or the run-off primary election of a party that has nominated, at either election, a candidate for the office you seek.  Contact our office concerning the number of signatures required.

Write-In Candidates

If you plan to be a write-in candidate for a Hays County office in the general election, file a Declaration of Write-In Candidacyform with the Hays County Judge.  Contact our office for the filing dates.  Either a filing fee or a nominating petition signed by a certain number of qualified voters must accompany your declaration.  Write-in candidates are not permitted in primary elections, except for the party office of county chair or precinct chair.  For the party office or precinct chair, you must now file a Declaration of Write-In Candidacy form.  However, if no candidate’s name is to be placed on the ballot or on the list of write-in candidates for the office of precinct chair, write-in votes may be cast and counted for the office in the regular manner (i.e. without filing a declaration).

Note

Before becoming a candidate for a county office, you are urged to contact the Elections Administrator for information on the number of signatures required on your petition and to obtain forms you will need for both this filing and for financial filing.  You may contact the Elections Administrator at (512) 393-7310, by e-mail at elections@co.hays.tx.us, or at

712 South Stagecoach Trail
Suite 1012
San Marcos, Texas  78666-5999
Hays County