Running for office in Pendleton County, Kentucky.

The short version.

Kentucky is in the middle of a county election year right now. Section 99 of the state constitution puts every county's judge/executive, clerk, attorney, sheriff, jailer, coroner, surveyor and property valuation administrator on the ballot in 1998 and every four years after that, which lands on 2026. Those seats are being decided on November 3, 2026. Filing for them closed on January 9, 2026, so if you are reading this hoping to run for county office, the honest answer is that the next window opens in November 2029.

That is not the whole picture though, and two nearer doors are still open. Kentucky allows write-in candidates in general elections, and the deadline to declare as one for this November is the fourth Monday in August. And 2027 is a statewide year: the Governor and the other constitutional officers are elected then, with filing closing in early January 2027. This page covers all of it, and names the office in your county where the paperwork actually goes.

This page covers that for Pendleton 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 Kentucky State Board of Elections.

Pendleton County by the numbers.

Kentucky election calendar (2026).

Two calendars matter in Kentucky and they do not line up. County offices run on a four-year cycle tied to 1998, so 2026 and then 2030. The Governor and statewide officers run on their own four-year cycle in odd years, so 2027 and then 2031. Cities and school boards are on the even-year November ballot but file on a different deadline from partisan candidates. Everything below comes from the current text of KRS Chapter 117 and 118 and matches the State Board of Elections' published 2026 calendar.

• Mon Aug 24, 2026LAST DAY to file a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate for the November 2026 general election. This is the fourth Monday in August (KRS 117.265(2)) and it is the only route left onto this year's ballot. The fee is $50.
• Tue Nov 3, 2026General election. Every county constitutional office is on this ballot, along with city offices, school board seats and the federal races.
• Fri Jan 8, 2027, 4:00 p.m.Filing deadline for the 2027 primary: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture. These file with the Secretary of State, not your county clerk. Filing opens the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November 2026.
• Tue May 18, 20272027 primary election, held on the first Tuesday after the third Monday in May (KRS 118.025(3)).
• Tue Nov 2, 20272027 general election. Governor and the statewide constitutional officers.
• Fri Jan 7, 2028, 4:00 p.m.Filing deadline for the 2028 partisan primary, which is when partisan city offices come round again.
• Tue Jun 6, 2028Petition deadline for independent and political group candidates, for nonpartisan city candidates and for school board candidates: the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June (KRS 118.365).
• Wed Nov 7, 2029 to Fri Jan 11, 2030, 4:00 p.m.The next filing window for COUNTY office. Filing opens the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November and closes the first Friday following the first Monday in January (KRS 118.125, 118.165). Those seats are then on the November 2030 ballot.

These dates follow from the statutory rules rather than being copied from a calendar, and the 2026 ones match the State Board of Elections' published 2026 election calendar. Special elections to fill vacancies run on their own proclaimed schedule, and a vacancy arising late can reopen filing. Louisville Metro and Lexington-Fayette Urban County are charter governments whose city offices follow their own charters. Confirm anything you are relying on with your county clerk before you act on it.

Offices on the ballot in Pendleton County.

Kentucky elects more county officials than most states, and all of them were on the ballot together in 2026. These are the county-level seats:

• County Judge/Executive (four-year term)
• County Clerk, County Attorney, Sheriff, Jailer, Coroner, Surveyor and Property Valuation Administrator (four-year terms)
• Magistrates or County Commissioners, and Constables, by district (four-year terms)
• Circuit Court Clerk (six-year term, and the one county office with a written exam)
• City offices and school board seats, which share the November ballot but file on a different schedule

Statewide and legislative seats covering Pendleton County are on the same ballot:

• Governor and the statewide constitutional officers, on the separate odd-year cycle
• State Senator and State Representative for your district
• Commonwealth's Attorney and Circuit and District Judges for your judicial circuit
• Soil and Water Conservation District supervisors, which have the lowest filing fee in the state at $20

Which of these appear on your own ballot depends on your county and on your district lines, and two counties do not follow the pattern at all: Jefferson County is Louisville Metro and Fayette County is the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, both consolidated governments running under their own charters. In counties containing a city of the first class and in urban-county governments, the offices of sheriff and jailer are consolidated. Your county clerk holds the definitive list for your county.

How to get on the ballot.

Kentucky is one of the simpler states to get on a ballot in, and unusually the price is the same wherever you live. The filing fee is set in state law rather than by your county, so it does not change from Pike County to Fulton County. What changes is which route you take.

Route 1: run in a party primary. The fee is $50.

For any county office the filing fee is fifty dollars, set by KRS 118.255 and the same figure in all 120 counties. You file a notification and declaration with your county clerk, and the deadline is 4:00 p.m. on the first Friday following the first Monday in January before the May primary (KRS 118.165). Filing opens the previous November. For comparison the same statute charges $200 for a seat in the General Assembly and $500 for Governor or a statewide office, and those file with the Secretary of State instead. School board seats and soil and water conservation district supervisors are the cheapest in the state at $20.

Route 2: skip the primary and petition onto the November ballot.

Independent candidates and candidates of a political group do not run in the May primary. They qualify directly for November by filing a petition of nomination by 4:00 p.m. on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June (KRS 118.365). The signature counts in KRS 118.315 are low by national standards and depend on the office: one hundred registered voters for a county office, a seat in the General Assembly or Commonwealth's Attorney; twenty for an office of a division smaller than a county, such as magistrate or constable; five thousand for a statewide office; and just two for a city office or a board of education seat. Every signer has to add the date, their date of birth and their residence address, and a signature missing any of those does not count. There is an earlier step that catches people out: most independent candidates must also file a statement-of-candidacy form by April 1 (KRS 118.367), and the clerk cannot accept the petition without it.

Route 3: run as a write-in. General elections only.

Kentucky counts write-in votes, but only in general elections and only for candidates who declared in advance. You file a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate on or before the fourth Monday in August (KRS 117.265(2)), which for the November 2026 election means Monday August 24, 2026. The fee is $50. This is the only route onto the 2026 ballot still open as this page is written, and it is a real one: write-in candidates have won county races in Kentucky.

What every candidate should check first.

Kentucky attaches residency and age requirements to each office rather than using one rule for all of them. Most county offices require you to be at least 24, a Kentucky citizen, resident in the state for two years and in the county or district for one year before the election. County clerk and circuit court clerk drop the age to 21. County attorney requires two years as a licensed practising lawyer. Three offices carry an extra hurdle: circuit court clerk requires a passing grade of 70 percent or better on a written examination set by the Administrative Office of the Courts, property valuation administrator requires a certificate from the Revenue Cabinet, and surveyor requires a Kentucky professional land surveyor licence produced at the time of filing.

Statutory references: KRS 118.025 sets the primary on the first Tuesday after the third Monday in May and the general on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. · Section 99 of the Kentucky Constitution elects the county officers in 1998 and every four years after, which is why 2026 is a county election year and 2030 is the next one. · KRS 118.125 and 118.165 open filing on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November and close it at 4:00 p.m. on the first Friday following the first Monday in January. · KRS 118.255 sets every filing fee: $50 for county offices, $20 for school board and soil and water supervisors, $200 for the General Assembly, $500 for statewide office. · KRS 118.315, 118.365 and 118.367 govern the petition route, its signature counts and the April statement-of-candidacy step. · KRS 117.265 allows write-in votes in general elections only, and requires a declaration of intent by the fourth Monday in August.. Fees and signature counts change; confirm before you file.

The Pendleton County Clerk.

Your county clerk is where candidate filing for county and local office happens in Kentucky, and it is also the office that answers what this page cannot: which district you live in, which seats are actually on your ballot, and what the exact fee is for the office you have in mind. Candidates for statewide office and for the General Assembly file with the Secretary of State instead.

Contact details verified 2026-08-12. Official statewide sources: Kentucky State Board of Elections: candidate filing · Qualifications and filing fees for every office · Kentucky election calendars.

Common questions.

After you qualify: the field operation.

Kentucky's filing paperwork is cheap and quick, which is exactly why the ballot is rarely the hard part. County races here are frequently decided in the May primary rather than in November, and turnout in a Kentucky primary is a fraction of the general: the May 2026 primary drew under thirty percent of registered Democrats and Republicans. That means a county race can be settled by a small, identifiable and reachable group of people, months before most voters are paying any attention. Knowing which precincts those voters are in, and getting to their doors first, is most of the work.

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 Pendleton.

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

See all Kentucky counties →