Running for office in Phillips County, Colorado.

The short version.

A plain-language guide to how county ballot access works in every one of Colorado's 64 counties. Colorado's 2026 candidate-access windows have already closed -- the county assembly and petition deadlines fell between January and July, and the last write-in affidavit deadline was July 16, 2026 -- but the November 3, 2026 general election itself is still ahead. This guide is written as a reference for how the assembly-or-petition system works before the next time each office comes up, and it carries your county's Clerk and Recorder, the office that runs the election itself between now and November.

Colorado does not run county candidate qualifying through the Secretary of State's office, and it does not charge a courthouse filing fee. A candidate seeking a major or minor party's nomination is designated at that party's county assembly -- a candidate who receives 30% or more of the accredited delegate vote goes straight to the primary ballot (C.R.S. 1-4-601) -- or reaches the ballot instead by petition (C.R.S. 1-4-801, 1-4-802), with no fee either way. The County Clerk and Recorder, listed for every county below, is a separate thing: it is the office that actually administers the election, accepts candidate paperwork and petitions, and is the right first call for anything county-specific this page does not answer.

This page covers that for Phillips County and points you at your local election office for anything specific to your county. It is not legal advice; the official rules live with your election office and the Colorado Secretary of State.

Phillips County by the numbers.

Key Colorado dates.

2026 is a county year in Colorado, and every ordinary route has closed

Clerk and recorder, sheriff, treasurer, assessor, coroner, surveyor, county superintendent and one commissioner seat are all on this November's ballot. The way onto it was a precinct caucus in early March, a county assembly in late March, and a designation filed within four days of the assembly adjourning. There is no summer filing deadline in Colorado the way most states have one.

• Mon Nov 2, 2026 The one route still technically live, and it is conditional: a MAJOR-PARTY nomination vacancy arising after the June primary can be filled by that party's vacancy committee right up to the day before the election (C.R.S. 1-4-1005(3)(c)(I)). It needs an existing nominee to have died, withdrawn or become ineligible -- you cannot create the opening.
• Mon Aug 31, 2026 Same idea for an unaffiliated or minor-party nomination vacancy, and narrower still: the vacancy must have arisen before August 25 (C.R.S. 1-4-1007, 1-4-1008).
• Thu Jul 16, 2026 Write-in Affidavit of Intent for the general -- CLOSED (C.R.S. 1-4-1102(1), the 110th day). Colorado counts write-in votes only for candidates who filed it.
• Thu Jul 9, 2026, 5:00 p.m. Unaffiliated candidate petitions for a partisan office -- CLOSED (C.R.S. 1-4-802(1)(f)(I)).
• Tue Mar 17 and Mar 24-28, 2026 Party candidate petitions, and the county assemblies with designations due four days after adjournment -- CLOSED (C.R.S. 1-4-801(5)(a), 1-4-601(3)(a)).

2027 is the coordinated election; 2028 is the next county opportunity

November 2, 2027 is Colorado's statewide Coordinated Election, run by the county clerk on behalf of school districts, municipalities and other local subdivisions, and carrying TABOR ballot issues. No county office appears on it. The county commissioner seats not up in 2026 -- two of three in smaller counties, three of five in counties of 70,000 or more -- return in 2028; the row officers do not return until 2030.

• Wed Aug 4, 2027 First day a school district director candidate may circulate a nomination petition, 90 days before the election (C.R.S. 1-4-803(1)(b)). Published by the Secretary of State.
• Fri Aug 27, 2027 Last day to file a school district director nomination petition, the 67th day (C.R.S. 1-4-803(2)). Published.
• Mon Aug 30, 2027 Last day to file an affidavit of intent to run as a write-in candidate in the nonpartisan coordinated election, the 64th day (C.R.S. 1-4-1102(2)). Published.
• Tue Nov 2, 2027 COORDINATED ELECTION. Published.
• Mon Jan 3, 2028 COMPUTED last day to affiliate with a party in order to run as its candidate in 2028, or to be registered unaffiliated to take that line (C.R.S. 1-4-601(4)(a), 1-4-802(1)(g)(II)). Ten months before the election.
• Tue Mar 7 to Sat Mar 11, 2028 COMPUTED precinct caucus window; each party picks its own date inside it (C.R.S. 1-3-102(1)(a)(I)).
• late Mar to Sat Apr 1, 2028 COMPUTED county assemblies, no later than 21 days after the caucuses, with designations and acceptances due within four days of adjournment (C.R.S. 1-4-602(1)(a)(I), 1-4-601(3)(a)).
• Tue Mar 21, 2028 COMPUTED candidate petition deadline, the alternative to going through the assembly (C.R.S. 1-4-801(5)(a)).
• Thu Jul 13, 2028, 5:00 p.m. COMPUTED unaffiliated candidate petition deadline, the 117th day (C.R.S. 1-4-802(1)(f)(I)).
• Thu Jul 20, 2028 COMPUTED write-in Affidavit of Intent deadline, the 110th day (C.R.S. 1-4-1102(1)).
• Tue Nov 7, 2028 COMPUTED GENERAL ELECTION.

The 2026 and 2027 dates come from the Colorado Secretary of State's own published 2026 and 2027 election calendars, read on 2026-08-20. Colorado has published calendars only through 2027, so the 2028 dates are arithmetic from Title 1; the same arithmetic reproduces the published 2026 dates exactly. Home-rule counties and the cities-and-counties can depart from the standard cycle, so confirm with your county clerk and recorder.

Offices on the ballot in Phillips County.

Every Colorado county elects a Commissioner, Clerk and Recorder, Treasurer, Assessor, Sheriff, Coroner and Surveyor to a four-year term beginning the second Tuesday in January (Colo. Const. Art. XIV, Sec. 8 & 10). On the 2026 ballot specifically:

• Clerk and Recorder, Treasurer, Assessor, Sheriff, Surveyor and Coroner -- on the 2026 ballot in every county
• County Commissioner -- staggered 4-year terms, so only some of a county's commissioner seats are up in 2026; which specific district is up varies county to county (Larimer's District 1, Boulder's District 3 and Arapahoe's Districts 2 and 4 were each up in 2026, for example) -- confirm your county's district with its Clerk and Recorder

Colorado counties do not all share the same commissioner-district numbering or staggering pattern, so no single statewide list of 'which district is up' applies to all 64 counties. Your County Clerk and Recorder's office publishes the current year's specific offices up for election.

How to get on the ballot.

Colorado charges no monetary filing fee for county office. A candidate reaches the primary or general election ballot through a political party's county assembly, by petition, or -- for any office -- as a write-in; all three routes are free.

Major or minor party nomination by county assembly -- no fee.

A candidate seeking a party's nomination for county office is designated at that party's county assembly. A candidate who receives 30% or more of the votes of accredited assembly delegates is placed on the primary ballot and must file a written acceptance with the County Clerk and Recorder no later than 4 days after the assembly adjourns (C.R.S. 1-4-601). Minor party candidates designated by assembly go straight to the general election ballot unless more than one candidate is designated for the same office, in which case they run in the primary instead (C.R.S. 1-4-1304).

Petition instead of assembly -- still no fee.

A candidate affiliated with a major party may bypass the assembly and petition directly onto the primary ballot instead. The petition must carry whichever is fewer: 1,000 signatures, or signatures equal to 10% of the votes cast in that party's last primary for the office (or the last general election if there was no primary) (C.R.S. 1-4-801(2)(a)). Minor party candidates petition with the lesser of 1,000 signatures or 2% of the votes cast for that office at the last general election (C.R.S. 1-4-802).

Unaffiliated candidates: petition only, also no fee.

A candidate not seeking a party's nomination reaches the general election ballot only by petition. The petition requires whichever is fewer: 1,000 signatures, or 2% of the votes cast for that office at the last general election (C.R.S. 1-4-802).

Write-in candidates: affidavit of intent, no signatures or fee.

A write-in candidate files an affidavit of intent with the County Clerk and Recorder rather than collecting signatures or petitioning. No write-in vote is counted for anyone who did not file the affidavit (C.R.S. 1-4-1101, 1-4-1102).

Statutory references: C.R.S. 1-4-601 (nomination by party assembly; 30% threshold; 4-day acceptance deadline) · C.R.S. 1-4-801 (major party candidate petitions) · C.R.S. 1-4-802 (minor party and unaffiliated candidate petitions) · C.R.S. 1-4-1101, 1-4-1102 (write-in candidate affidavit of intent) · Colo. Const. Art. XIV, Sec. 8 & 10 (county officer terms and election) · C.R.S. 1-2-302 (statewide voter registration list is a public record, no use restriction stated). Fees and signature counts change; confirm before you file.

The Phillips County Clerk and Recorder.

Colorado's county ballot access runs through the party assembly or a petition, not this office -- but the Clerk and Recorder below actually administers the election, accepts filings and petitions, and is the right first call for anything this page cannot answer.

Contact details verified 2026-08-14. Official statewide sources: Colorado Secretary of State: Candidate Information · Colorado Secretary of State: County Election Offices · Colorado Secretary of State: 2026 Election Calendar (PDF).

Common questions.

After you qualify: the field operation.

Colorado's ballot-access system is unusually cheap to navigate -- no filing fee, and a real assembly-or-petition choice -- which means the deciding factor in most county races is what happens after you qualify: which precincts turn out, how many volunteers you can put on doors, and whether you knock them in an order that makes sense before the June 30 primary or the November 3 general, whichever ballot your race is actually on.

That is the part Motion51 was built for. You scope your district, cut turf, and send volunteers out with a phone instead of a clipboard. It works offline, so canvassing does not stop where the cell signal does, and every door is logged with a timestamp for your records. Our For Candidates page walks through what that looks like.

Counties next to Phillips.

Running in a district that crosses a county line? Each of these has its own guide.

See all Colorado counties →