The short version.
Iowa runs its elections through the county auditor, who by law serves as the county's Commissioner of Elections. There is no filing fee for any office in Iowa, county included — the only way onto the ballot is a nomination petition, signed by registered voters in your county and filed with your county auditor by the deadline for the route you take.
Iowa staggers its county row offices across two four-year cycles so they never all come up in the same year (Iowa Code § 39.17). The county auditor and sheriff were last elected in 2024 and are next up in 2028. 2026 is the OTHER cycle: county supervisor, county attorney, county treasurer and county recorder are all on the 2026 ballot. Your auditor still runs the election and takes your filing either way — the auditor's own seat just is not one of the ones voters decide this year.
This page covers that for Warren 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 Iowa Secretary of State.
Warren County by the numbers.
- In 2024, Warren County cast 32,662 votes for president: 59.7% Republican, 38.9% Democratic.
The campaigns that win the field are the ones who start building their list of supporters and volunteers before qualifying even opens, not after. Motion51 is ready to load your Warren County voter file the moment you send it over, so you can start finding your people now.
Key Iowa dates.
Still open for the November 3, 2026 ballot
Iowa has three separate county deadlines, not one. The partisan county and township window closed on June 2, and the nonpartisan window for Agricultural Extension Council, Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner and County Public Hospital Trustee closed on August 26. What is left is the write-in, which Iowa allows with no paperwork at all.
- Wed Aug 26, 2026, 5:00 p.m. CLOSED. Filing closed for County Agricultural Extension Council, Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner and County Public Hospital Trustee. Affidavit of candidacy plus a nomination petition, filed with the county auditor, no fee. 25 signatures for extension and conservation, 50 for hospital trustee. There is no first day.
- Tue Nov 3, 2026 STILL OPEN. WRITE-IN, for any Iowa office, with no paperwork at all. Iowa requires no declaration of intent; the vote counts if the voter writes the name and marks the target next to it (Iowa Code sec. 49.99).
- Tue Jun 2, 2026, 5:00 p.m. CLOSED. Partisan county and township offices, and non-party political organisation and by-petition candidates -- CLOSED.
A candidate who files nomination papers for two offices on the same ballot without also filing the election-of-office affidavit by the filing deadline is struck from the ballot for BOTH -- the only exceptions are extension council and soil and water commissioner.
2027 is cities and schools; 2028 brings the other half of the county
Iowa splits its county row offices across two even years. Treasurer, recorder and county attorney are the 2026 and 2030 series; AUDITOR and SHERIFF are the 2028 and 2032 series (Iowa Code sec. 39.17). Supervisor seats appear in both even years depending on the seat. Someone who wanted to run for sheriff this year has missed by two years -- it is not on the 2026 ballot at all.
- Tue Oct 5, 2027 City primary, in cities that have primary provisions; filing runs Aug 9 to 26, 2027. Published by the Secretary of State.
- Tue Nov 2, 2027 Regular city and regular school election; filing runs Aug 23 to Sep 16, 2027, with a city runoff on Nov 30 where a city provides for one. Published.
- Tue Nov 7, 2028 COMPUTED general election (Iowa Code sec. 39.1). Iowa's published calendar currently stops at 2027 and a 2025 act moved several filing windows, so we are not printing 2028 filing dates from guesswork -- check the Secretary of State's three-year calendar once it extends.
Anything you remember from the 2024 cycle may be wrong: HF954 of 2025 moved these windows. Check the current calendar rather than last time's.
Status as of October 18, 2026: dates that have passed are greyed out and marked CLOSED.
The 2026 and 2027 dates come from the Iowa Secretary of State's 2026 General Candidate's Guide and its three-year election calendar, read on 2026-08-20. That calendar stops at 2027, so 2028 filing windows are not published and are deliberately not printed here. Confirm with your county auditor.
The 2027 ballot in Warren County.
These 2027 dates are confirmed against the state's own published calendar or statute. Anything our research could not confirm is left off this page rather than estimated.
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November 2, 2027
Municipal General — City and school.
Regular city and school election: mayors and city council members in every Iowa city, school district directors and community college directors. Cities that hold an October primary use an earlier filing window (Aug 9 to Aug 26).
Candidate filing: opens Aug 23, 2027, closes Sep 16, 2027 (5:00 p.m.).
Source
2027 dates can move, and a municipality can change its own election date by ordinance. Which seats are on a given ballot depends on when each was last filled. Confirm anything you are relying on with the Warren County Auditor before you act on it.
Offices on the ballot in Warren County.
These are the county row offices Iowa voters decide in 2026:
- County Supervisor (four-year term; most counties elect supervisors county-wide, some by district — ask your auditor which applies to your seat)
- County Attorney (four-year term)
- County Treasurer (four-year term)
- County Recorder (four-year term)
- US House seat covering your county, and the statewide and legislative offices on the ballot this cycle
County Auditor and Sheriff are NOT on the 2026 ballot — both were last elected in 2024 and are next up in 2028 (Iowa Code § 39.17). Which supervisor seats are county-wide versus district, and which other local and school offices share your county's 2026 ballot, is on file with your county auditor.
How to get on the ballot.
Iowa charges no filing fee for any office. Every route onto the ballot runs through a nomination petition filed with your county auditor; the two routes differ in whose ballot you are aiming for and when they close.
Running for a party's nomination: file by March 20, 2026.
To seek a qualified political party's nomination for county office, circulate a nomination petition and file it, together with the affidavit of candidacy, with your county auditor between March 2 and 5:00 p.m. on March 20, 2026 (Iowa Code § 43.11, § 43.20). If your primary is contested, the party's nominee is decided at the June 2, 2026 primary; if it is not, you advance straight to the November 3 general.
- Signature counts for a countywide office are set by your county's population under Iowa Code § 45.1(6): 50 signatures in a county of 15,000 or fewer people, 75 signatures in a county of more than 15,000 but fewer than 50,000, and 100 signatures in a county of 50,000 or more.
- County supervisor candidates running by district in a county that elects supervisors that way follow a separate, smaller district-population scale under Iowa Code § 45.1(7). Ask your county auditor which scale applies to your seat before you start collecting.
- Signers must be eligible electors and residents of the county (or supervisor district, where that applies).
There is no filing fee at any point in this process — petition signatures are the only requirement.
Running without a party: file directly for the November ballot by June 2, 2026.
Nonparty political organization (NPPO) and independent candidates skip the primary entirely and petition straight onto the November 3, 2026 general election ballot. Under 2025 Iowa Acts, House File 954, this filing deadline moved from an August window to 5:00 p.m. on the same day parties hold their primary — June 2, 2026 for this cycle — filed with your county auditor (Iowa Code § 44.4(1)).
- The same population-based signature scale in Iowa Code § 45.1(6) applies: 50, 75 or 100 signatures depending on your county's population.
- Petitions must be signed by eligible electors resident in the county (or district) the office covers.
As with the party route, there is no fee — only the petition.
Statutory references: Iowa Code ch. 47 (the county auditor serves as the county's Commissioner of Elections) · Iowa Code § 45.1(6)-(7) (nomination petition signature counts) · Iowa Code § 43.11, § 43.20 (party nomination petition filing window and primary) · Iowa Code § 44.4(1), as amended by 2025 Iowa Acts, House File 954 (NPPO/independent filing deadline) · Iowa Code § 39.17 (which county offices are elected in which even years). Fees and signature counts change; confirm before you file.
The Warren County Auditor.
The county auditor is Iowa's county Commissioner of Elections — the office that takes nomination petitions, runs the election, and answers the questions this page cannot, like exactly which local seats share your county's 2026 ballot.
- Office
- Warren County Administration, 301 North Buxton, Suite 101, Indianola, IA 50125
- Phone
- (515) 690-9180
Contact details verified 2026-08-13. Official statewide sources: Iowa Secretary of State: 2026 Primary Candidate's Guide · Iowa Secretary of State: Three Year Election Calendar · Find your county auditor (Iowa State Association of County Auditors).
Common questions.
When is the filing deadline to run for county office in Warren County?
It depends on the route. To seek a party's nomination, file your petition with the Warren County Auditor between March 2 and 5:00 p.m. on March 20, 2026. To run without a party and go straight to the November ballot, the deadline is 5:00 p.m. on June 2, 2026 — moved up from an old August date by a 2025 law change (House File 954).
How much does it cost to run for county office in Warren County?
Nothing. Iowa charges no filing fee for any office, county included. The only way onto the ballot is a nomination petition signed by registered voters, filed with the Warren County Auditor.
How many signatures do I need to get on the ballot in Warren County?
It depends on your county's population (Iowa Code § 45.1(6)): 50 signatures in a county of 15,000 people or fewer, 75 signatures in a county of more than 15,000 but under 50,000, and 100 signatures in a county of 50,000 or more. A county supervisor candidate running by district may face a smaller, district-based count instead — the Warren County Auditor can tell you the exact figure for your seat.
Which county offices are on the ballot in Warren County in 2026?
County Supervisor, County Attorney, County Treasurer and County Recorder are all up in 2026. County Auditor and Sheriff are not — those were last elected in 2024 and come up again in 2028.
Where do I file to run for office in Warren County?
With the Warren County Auditor, whose address and phone number are above. The auditor is Warren County's Commissioner of Elections and the office that takes nomination petitions for every county race.
How many registered voters are in Warren County?
Motion51 does not hold the Iowa voter file, so rather than publish a number that could go stale we point you at the Iowa Secretary of State's own published registration figures and at the Warren County Auditor.
After you qualify: the field operation.
Iowa's filing process is genuinely light — a petition, no fee — and it moves fast once you clear it. What decides a county race happens after: working out which precincts turn out, recruiting enough volunteers to cover them, and knocking doors in an order that makes sense before the June primary or the November general, whichever ballot you are 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.
Warren County at a glance.
Warren County had an estimated 56,343 residents in July 2024, the 11th most populous of Iowa's 99 counties, up 7.5% since the 2020 census. Of those, 42,834 are 18 or older, the voting-age population, and 17.3% are 65 or older. It covers 570 square miles of land (99 people per square mile).
The largest cities and towns are Indianola (16,297), Norwalk (part) (15,396), Carlisle (part) (4,311), Milo (762) and Hartford (729). The American Community Survey (2020-2024) puts it at a median age of 38.8, a median household income of $94,588, 33.3% of adults 25 and older holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 82.3% of occupied homes owned by the people living in them. In 2024, 32,662 votes were cast for president, about 76.3% of the voting-age population; the Democratic ticket took 38.9% and the Republican ticket 59.7%.
The two-party margin moved from D+0.6 in 2008 to R+20.8 in 2024.
- Population (2024 estimate)
- 56,343
- Population (2020 census base)
- 52,397
- Voting-age population (18+)
- 42,834
- Residents 65 and older
- 17.3%
- People per square mile
- 99
- Land area
- 570 sq mi
- Median age
- 38.8
- Median household income
- $94,588
- Adults 25+ with a bachelor's degree
- 33.3%
- Owner-occupied homes
- 82.3%
Largest cities and towns
- Indianola 16,297
- Norwalk (part) 15,396
- Carlisle (part) 4,311
- Milo 762
- Hartford 729
Presidential vote, 2008–2024
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Margin | Votes cast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 38.9% | 59.7% | R+20.8 | 32,662 |
| 2020 | 40.5% | 57.3% | R+16.8 | 31,039 |
| 2016 | 38.5% | 54.9% | R+16.4 | 26,916 |
| 2012 | 48.4% | 50.4% | R+2.0 | 25,875 |
| 2008 | 49.4% | 48.8% | D+0.6 | 24,880 |
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 Warren.
Running in a district that crosses a county line? Each of these has its own guide.