The short version.
Arkansas puts candidates on the ballot during a single one-week filing window in November of the year before the election. Party candidates pay a filing fee set by their party and run in the March preferential primary; independents file in the same window and submit a petition of qualified electors instead of running in a primary. Candidates for county, township, and municipal offices file with the Cleburne County Clerk; state, legislative, district, judicial, and federal candidates file with the Arkansas Secretary of State.
This page covers how that works for Cleburne County. It is not legal advice. Your county clerk and the Arkansas Secretary of State's candidate page are the sources of truth.
Cleburne County at the ballot box.
- 15,421 active registered voters across 34 precincts (official Arkansas voter file, November 2026).
- 8,062 supervoters (52.28% of the county; voted in at least 3 of the last 4 November generals). These are the doors reliable-voter campaigns knock first.
- In 2024, Cleburne County cast 12,739 votes for president: 83.2% Republican, 15.2% Democratic.
- Turnout has moved from 12,680 votes in 2020 to 12,739 in 2024.
Arkansas has no party registration, so every voter can pick either party's primary ballot in March. A primary here is often decided by a few hundred reliable voters, which is where a real field operation pays off.
How to get on the ballot in Arkansas.
The campaigns that win the field are the ones who start building their list of supporters and volunteers before qualifying even opens, not after. The Cleburne County voter file is already loaded in Motion51, so you can start finding your people now.
There are three routes onto the ballot, and all of them run through the same one-week filing window in November of the year before the election.
Path 1: run in a party primary.
You pay a filing fee to your party (each party sets its own fees under A.C.A. § 7-7-301; they range from a few hundred dollars for local offices up to five figures for statewide and federal races), sign the party pledge, and then file your political practices pledge, affidavit of eligibility, and notice of candidacy during the filing week. County, township, and municipal candidates file that paperwork with the county clerk; everyone else files with the Secretary of State. You then run in the preferential primary in early March. If nobody clears 50%, the top two meet in the general primary (runoff) four weeks later, and the nominee advances to November. Because Arkansas has no party registration, any voter may choose your party's ballot.
Path 2: run as an independent.
Independents file the same notice of candidacy during the same November window, but instead of a party fee they submit a petition of qualified electors under A.C.A. § 7-7-103. For county, township, and district offices the petition needs signatures from at least 3% of the qualified electors of the area the office serves, capped at 2,000 signatures. For statewide office and U.S. Senate it is 10,000 signatures or 3% of the state's electors, whichever is less. Signatures may only be collected in the 90 days before the petition deadline, and completed petitions are due by noon on May 1 of the election year. Independents skip the primary and go straight to the November general election ballot.
Path 3: run for a nonpartisan judicial office.
Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, circuit judge, district judge, and prosecuting attorney races are nonpartisan. Candidates file with the Secretary of State during the same filing week and pay a filing fee, or qualify by petition in an earlier window (A.C.A. § 7-10-103). These races are decided on the March ballot that runs alongside the primary; if no candidate wins a majority, the top two meet at the November general election.
How the filing calendar works.
Arkansas front-loads its calendar more than almost any other state. The pattern repeats every cycle:
- The candidate filing window is one week long: it opens at noon on the first Monday in November of the year before the election and closes at noon eight days later (A.C.A. § 7-7-203). For the 2026 cycle that was November 3–12, 2025, and that window has closed.
- The preferential primary is held in early March of the election year (March 3, 2026 this cycle), with the general primary runoff four weeks later (March 31, 2026).
- Independent candidates' petitions are due by noon on May 1 of the election year.
- The general election is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (November 3, 2026), with a general runoff for certain offices in early December if needed.
Planning a 2028 race? The filing window for the next cycle opens in November 2027. That is not a typo: in Arkansas you file a full year before the general election, so the smart move is to start organizing now.
Exact dates, fees, and forms change each cycle, so confirm the current calendar with your county clerk or on the official Arkansas Secretary of State candidate page, which posts the election calendar and the Running for Public Office handbook.
Key Arkansas dates.
Your real deadline is noon on Tuesday, November 9, 2027
Arkansas county officers now serve FOUR-year terms -- Amendment 95, approved in 2016, moved sheriff, circuit clerk, county clerk, assessor, treasurer, collector, coroner, surveyor and county judge off the old two-year cycle starting in 2018. Only justices of the peace and constables still run every two years. So 2026 is a county year, 2030 is the next one, and the filing window for it opens in November 2029. What you CAN file for in November 2027 is justice of the peace or constable.
- Mon Nov 1, 12:00 noon to Tue Nov 9, 2027, 12:00 noon COMPUTED 2028 FILING WINDOW, and the only one there is. It is also the only window in which an independent can file the notice of candidacy, political practices pledge and affidavit of eligibility (A.C.A. secs. 7-7-203(c)(1), 7-7-103(a)(1)). County candidates file with the COUNTY CLERK.
- Tue Feb 15, 2028 COMPUTED deadline for a new political party to file formation petitions, three weeks before the preferential primary (sec. 7-7-205(a)(6)).
- Tue Mar 7, 2028 COMPUTED preferential primary, nonpartisan general election and annual school election (secs. 7-7-203(b), 7-10-102(b)(1)); the general primary runoff follows four weeks later on April 4.
- Mon May 1, 2028, 12:00 noon COMPUTED independent petition deadline -- step two, and worthless without the November 2027 notice of candidacy behind it (sec. 7-7-103(b)(1)(A)).
- Tue Nov 7, 2028 COMPUTED general election, plus the nonpartisan and school runoffs.
Two things changed recently that older guidance still gets wrong. Act 405 of 2025 collapsed Arkansas's two filing schedules into one, so the November filing week now applies in every cycle rather than only presidential years -- 2026 proved it, running on that schedule in a gubernatorial year. And Act 503 of 2025 moved school board elections to the preferential primary with the runoff at the November general, pulling those seats out of odd years.
Status as of November 4, 2026: dates that have passed are greyed out and marked CLOSED.
The 2026 dates come from the Arkansas Secretary of State's published 2026 election calendar and the state's official Running for Public Office handbook, read on 2026-08-20. No 2027 or 2028 calendar exists, so those dates are arithmetic from A.C.A. Title 7; the same arithmetic reproduces the published 2026 dates. Confirm with your county clerk.
Cleburne County at a glance.
Cleburne County had an estimated 25,646 residents in July 2024, the 25th most populous of Arkansas's 75 counties, up 3.7% since the 2020 census. Of those, 20,823 are 18 or older, the voting-age population, and 28.0% are 65 or older. Its 15,421 active registered voters equal about 74.1% of that voting-age population.
It covers 554 square miles of land (46 people per square mile), and 63.7% of residents live outside any incorporated city or town. The largest cities and towns are Heber Springs (7,313), Greers Ferry (847), Quitman (part) (675), Concord (193) and Fairfield Bay (part) (168). The American Community Survey (2020-2024) puts it at a median age of 49.5, a median household income of $55,798, 18.4% of adults 25 and older holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 80.6% of occupied homes owned by the people living in them.
In 2024, 12,739 votes were cast for president, about 61.2% of the voting-age population; the Democratic ticket took 15.2% and the Republican ticket 83.2%. The two-party margin moved from R+44.2 in 2008 to R+68.0 in 2024.
- Population (2024 estimate)
- 25,646
- Population (2020 census base)
- 24,720
- Voting-age population (18+)
- 20,823
- Active voters per 100 adults
- 74.1
- Residents 65 and older
- 28.0%
- People per square mile
- 46
- Living outside incorporated places
- 63.7%
- Land area
- 554 sq mi
- Median age
- 49.5
- Median household income
- $55,798
- Adults 25+ with a bachelor's degree
- 18.4%
- Owner-occupied homes
- 80.6%
Largest cities and towns
- Heber Springs 7,313
- Greers Ferry 847
- Quitman (part) 675
- Concord 193
- Fairfield Bay (part) 168
Presidential vote, 2008–2024
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Margin | Votes cast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 15.2% | 83.2% | R+68.0 | 12,739 |
| 2020 | 15.7% | 81.5% | R+65.8 | 12,680 |
| 2016 | 17.6% | 79.0% | R+61.4 | 11,968 |
| 2012 | 22.5% | 74.6% | R+52.1 | 11,643 |
| 2008 | 26.0% | 70.2% | R+44.2 | 11,338 |
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 population estimates and 2024 Gazetteer; American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates; certified county presidential returns. Growth, density and turnout are simple arithmetic on those figures.
Counties next to Cleburne.
Running in a district that crosses a county line? Each of these has its own guide.
Registered voters, the most reliable-voting precincts and how this county has voted: Cleburne County voter data.
Offices on the ballot.
Arkansas voters elect federal offices (U.S. House and Senate); statewide constitutional offices (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, and Commissioner of State Lands); the Arkansas General Assembly (State Senate and House); nonpartisan judicial offices and prosecuting attorneys; county offices such as county judge, sheriff, county clerk, circuit clerk, assessor, treasurer, collector, coroner, and surveyor; justices of the peace on the quorum court; township offices such as constable; and city and school seats.
For the official list of Cleburne County seats up in a given cycle, check with your county clerk below.
Your county clerk.
Arkansas runs local candidate filing through its 75 county clerks. The Cleburne County Clerk is where county, township, and municipal candidates file, and the source of truth for local dates, districts, fees, and forms.
- Clerk
- Sherry Logan
- Office
- 300 W. Main St., Heber Springs, AR 72543
- Phone
- (501) 362-4620
- Website
- https://www.arcounties.org/counties/cleburne/
Contact details verified 2026-07-28 against the Association of Arkansas Counties directory. If a field is wrong or out of date, call the clerk's office or check the county's page there; the clerk's office is the canonical source.
After you qualify: building a field operation.
The paperwork ends the day you file. What starts then is the actual campaign: knocking on doors, recruiting volunteers, and identifying the voters who'll show up for you in March and November. In Arkansas the gap between filing (November) and the primary (early March) is barely four months, so candidates who wait until January to organize are already behind.
That's what Motion51 is built for. The Cleburne County voter file is already loaded, including which party's primary ballot each voter has taken, so there's no chasing a CSV or paying a vendor. You scope your district, recruit volunteers, cut turf, and start knocking. The app works offline for areas with bad cell coverage, and every door is logged with a timestamp.
If qualifying is settled and you're thinking about the field operation, our For Candidates page walks through the next steps.