MONROE - Local candidates will run a gauntlet of shifting deadlines this winter to emerge on the April ballot. If they can maneuver through them all, they must certainly have a heart for politics.
Potential candidates can jump into the races as soon as December, but they need to keep a close eye on the campaign deadlines. Meanwhile, voters tired of all the elections in 2012 can sit back and take a rest for at least the next few months.
Villages, cities, towns and schools will hold elections April 2, along with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, justice of the Supreme Court, and Court of Appeals judge in District 4, that includes Green and Lafayette counties. If a primary is needed, it will be held Feb. 19.
This spring, half of the alders in the City of Monroe and Brodhead are on the ballot.
According to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, as of Nov. 12, no state referendum questions or constitutional amendments were on the ballot for the April election. However, the legislature has until Jan. 22 to direct a referendum question be placed on the ballot, so the possibility still looms.
According to state statutes, candidates can start circulating nomination papers on Dec. 1, after registering their campaign. They have until the beginning of January to collect needed signatures.
Carol Stamm, Monroe city clerk, advises candidates to get started early.
"Come in early, get their paperwork, and start getting their (nomination) signatures. Of course, Dec. 1 is a Saturday, so they'll have to do it Dec. 3," she said.
Candidates can consider that late start as two days less of nomination time, but they get an extra day on the deadline end. The deadline for registering a campaign, declaring a candidacy and returning nomination papers falls on the first Tuesday of January, which in 2013 is Jan. 1, a legal holiday. Because of that, candidates may collect nomination petition signatures through 5 p.m. Jan. 2.
So, school district clerks and other filing officers for the Spring Election must have their offices open on Jan. 2 or at minimum be available to receive ballot access documents for the Spring Election up to 5 p.m.
If a candidate seeks to unseat an incumbent, the same deadlines apply - unless the incumbent candidate fails to file the notification of non-candidacy and fails to submit required ballot access documents by Jan. 2. Then a slightly different, and perhaps more confusing, rule applies.
According to the GAB, the deadline for filing the notification of non-candidacy for the 2013 Spring Election is 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21. If the clerk office is closed that day due to the holiday, the deadline is at 5 p.m. on the next business day. This applies to state, county, municipal, and school district filing offices.
If the failure to notify scenario arises, all other candidates will be provided an additional three days to collect nomination petitions and file the required ballot access documents. That puts the deadline for candidates in this situation at Saturday, Jan. 5. But because this deadline falls on a weekend, the deadline to file with clerks who do not have regular Saturday office hours will be extended to 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 7.
In this case, nomination petition signatures will be considered valid only if they are collected and dated through Saturday, Jan. 5.
Potential candidates can jump into the races as soon as December, but they need to keep a close eye on the campaign deadlines. Meanwhile, voters tired of all the elections in 2012 can sit back and take a rest for at least the next few months.
Villages, cities, towns and schools will hold elections April 2, along with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, justice of the Supreme Court, and Court of Appeals judge in District 4, that includes Green and Lafayette counties. If a primary is needed, it will be held Feb. 19.
This spring, half of the alders in the City of Monroe and Brodhead are on the ballot.
According to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, as of Nov. 12, no state referendum questions or constitutional amendments were on the ballot for the April election. However, the legislature has until Jan. 22 to direct a referendum question be placed on the ballot, so the possibility still looms.
According to state statutes, candidates can start circulating nomination papers on Dec. 1, after registering their campaign. They have until the beginning of January to collect needed signatures.
Carol Stamm, Monroe city clerk, advises candidates to get started early.
"Come in early, get their paperwork, and start getting their (nomination) signatures. Of course, Dec. 1 is a Saturday, so they'll have to do it Dec. 3," she said.
Candidates can consider that late start as two days less of nomination time, but they get an extra day on the deadline end. The deadline for registering a campaign, declaring a candidacy and returning nomination papers falls on the first Tuesday of January, which in 2013 is Jan. 1, a legal holiday. Because of that, candidates may collect nomination petition signatures through 5 p.m. Jan. 2.
So, school district clerks and other filing officers for the Spring Election must have their offices open on Jan. 2 or at minimum be available to receive ballot access documents for the Spring Election up to 5 p.m.
If a candidate seeks to unseat an incumbent, the same deadlines apply - unless the incumbent candidate fails to file the notification of non-candidacy and fails to submit required ballot access documents by Jan. 2. Then a slightly different, and perhaps more confusing, rule applies.
According to the GAB, the deadline for filing the notification of non-candidacy for the 2013 Spring Election is 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21. If the clerk office is closed that day due to the holiday, the deadline is at 5 p.m. on the next business day. This applies to state, county, municipal, and school district filing offices.
If the failure to notify scenario arises, all other candidates will be provided an additional three days to collect nomination petitions and file the required ballot access documents. That puts the deadline for candidates in this situation at Saturday, Jan. 5. But because this deadline falls on a weekend, the deadline to file with clerks who do not have regular Saturday office hours will be extended to 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 7.
In this case, nomination petition signatures will be considered valid only if they are collected and dated through Saturday, Jan. 5.