The short version.
Franklin County, Mississippi has 5,301 active registered voters across 14 precincts, per the official voter file as of July 2026. Here's what it takes to get on the ballot here.
Mississippi runs on party primaries. To get on the ballot you either enter a party primary (file a Statement of Intent and pay the qualifying fee) or run as an independent (pay the same fee and file a petition of voter signatures). County and county-district candidates file with the Franklin County Circuit Clerk; statewide, state-district, and legislative candidates file with their party's state executive committee, or with the Secretary of State if running independent.
This page covers how that works for Franklin County. It is not legal advice; for the official rules, your Circuit Clerk and the Mississippi Secretary of State's candidate qualifying guide are the sources of truth.
Franklin County by the numbers.
- 5,301 active registered voters across 14 precincts (official Mississippi voter file, July 2026).
- 2,848 supervoters (53.73%; voted in at least 3 of the last 4 November generals). These are the doors reliable-voter campaigns knock first.
- In 2024, Franklin County cast 4,066 votes for president: 29.8% Democratic, 69.6% Republican.
Statewide coverage details: Motion51 in Mississippi.
The two ways to get on the ballot.
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 Franklin County voter file is already loaded in Motion51, so you can start finding your people now.
Every Mississippi candidate for a partisan office takes one of two routes: qualify for a party primary, or qualify as an independent for the November ballot.
Option 1: Enter a party primary.
You file a Statement of Intent and pay the qualifying fee set by Miss. Code § 23-15-297. Under Miss. Code § 23-15-299, candidates for county and county-district offices file and pay at the Circuit Clerk's office in their county of residence (the clerk forwards everything to the county party executive committee within two business days). Candidates for statewide, state-district, and legislative offices pay the secretary of their party's state executive committee.
- County offices — sheriff, chancery clerk, circuit clerk, tax assessor, tax collector, county attorney, superintendent of education, county supervisor: $100.
- County surveyor, coroner, constable: $100.
- State Senator or State Representative: $250.
- District Attorney: $250.
- Statewide offices — Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Insurance, Agriculture: $500–$2,500, set by the party.
- Governor: $1,000–$5,000, set by the party.
- U.S. Senate: $1,000–$5,000, set by the party.
- U.S. House: $500–$2,500, set by the party.
Fees are per Miss. Code § 23-15-297; where a range is shown, the party's state executive committee sets the exact amount. The Secretary of State's candidate qualifying forms page has the current forms and fee confirmations.
Option 2: Run as an independent.
Under Miss. Code § 23-15-359, an independent candidate pays the same qualifying fee and files a petition signed by registered voters of the area the office serves. County-level petitions are filed with the Circuit Clerk; statewide, district, and legislative petitions go to the Secretary of State. Signature minimums:
- County office (sheriff, circuit clerk, tax assessor, and similar): 50 signatures.
- County supervisor district (one of the five beats): 15 signatures.
- State House or State Senate district: 50 signatures.
- Circuit or chancery court district office (e.g., District Attorney): 100 signatures.
- U.S. House (congressional district): 200 signatures.
- Supreme Court district: 300 signatures.
- Statewide office (Governor, U.S. Senate, and similar): 1,000 signatures.
Every signature is checked against the voter rolls, so collect a comfortable cushion. Candidates who petition well treat it as a head start on the field operation: every signer is a confirmed registered voter, and every gatherer is a future volunteer. Petitions cannot be filed online, and nothing can be filed before January 1 of the election year.
Judicial offices (Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, circuit, chancery, and county judges) run nonpartisan under a separate qualifying process, and municipal races file with the municipal clerk on a separate calendar; this page covers county, legislative, statewide, and federal qualifying.
No party registration here, and what that means for you.
One thing that surprises first-time Mississippi candidates: Mississippi has no party registration. The voter file lists every voter's name, address, age, and vote history, but no party. Any registered voter may vote in either party's primary (they just can't vote in both), and any candidate may enter either primary.
For your campaign, that means voter targeting in Franklin County is built from vote history (which primaries and generals a voter has actually shown up for) rather than a party label. That's exactly how Motion51 filters work: you define what a likely voter looks like for your race and cut turf from that.
Key Mississippi dates.
Still open for the November 3, 2026 ballot, but only for school seats and specials
Mississippi's big year is 2027, not 2026. What is on this November's ballot is judicial offices, school district trustees and any county special election.
- Thu Aug 20, 2026, 5:00 p.m. QUALIFYING CLOSES TODAY for County School Board, Municipal Separate School District Trustee, Special Municipal Separate School District Trustee and Consolidated School District Trustee -- a statement of intent plus a petition of at least 50 qualified electors, certified by the circuit clerk. The window opened July 21. It also closes today for any county or county-district SPECIAL election on the November ballot (Miss. Code sec. 23-15-839).
- Tue Nov 3, 2026 Write-in is NOT a general route here. Miss. Code sec. 23-15-365 counts a write-in only where a candidate already printed on the ballot has died, resigned, withdrawn or been removed, and only for someone qualified to hold the office. A write-in campaign against a live opponent produces zero counted votes.
- Mon Feb 2, 2026, 5:00 p.m. Judicial qualifying -- CLOSED.
2027 is the county year, and the deadline is in the dead of winter
Every county office is up in 2027 for a four-year term: sheriff, coroner, tax assessor, surveyor, all five supervisor districts, justice court judges, constables, circuit clerk and chancery clerk, plus the district attorney and every statewide office and the whole Legislature. County election commissioner runs on its own clock -- only supervisor Districts Two and Four elect one in 2027, for a three-year term, with Districts One, Three and Five moving to 2028.
- Mon Jan 4, 2027 COMPUTED first practical day to qualify. Assessments cannot be paid before January 1, and January 1, 2027 is a holiday (Miss. Code sec. 23-15-299).
- Mon Feb 1, 2027, 5:00 p.m. COMPUTED QUALIFYING DEADLINE, and the only one that matters. Party-primary AND independent candidates for county and county-district office face the same date (secs. 23-15-299, 23-15-359(3)). There is no petition extension and no late entry. An independent also needs a petition -- 50 qualified electors countywide, 15 for a county district -- CERTIFIED by the circuit clerk before this deadline, so start weeks earlier.
- Tue Aug 3, 2027 COMPUTED first primary, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in August (sec. 23-15-191).
- Tue Aug 31, 2027 COMPUTED primary runoff. Note this is FOUR weeks after the primary, not three: a 2024 act lengthened the interval, so anyone extrapolating from the 2023 cycle will have the wrong date.
- Tue Nov 2, 2027 COMPUTED general election (Miss. Const. art. 5, sec. 140).
Mississippi is an odd-year state whose real deadline lands nine months before anyone votes. A would-be supervisor or sheriff who starts organising in the spring of 2027 has already lost the cycle, and there is no meaningful write-in behind it. Put February 1, 2027 in your calendar now, and the circuit clerk's certification a few weeks before that.
The 2026 dates come from the Mississippi Secretary of State's published 2026 elections calendar and county election handbook, read on 2026-08-20. No 2027 calendar has been published yet -- Mississippi usually posts one in the autumn of the preceding year -- so the 2027 dates below are computed from statute and the state constitution and should be re-checked against that calendar when it appears. Confirm with your circuit clerk.
Offices on the 2027 ballot.
Up in 2027 (primary August 3, general November 2):
- Governor and the seven other statewide executive offices (Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Insurance, Agriculture & Commerce)
- Public Service Commission and Transportation Commission — all three districts each
- Mississippi Senate — all 52 seats
- Mississippi House — all 122 seats
- District Attorneys — every circuit court district
- County offices — sheriff, chancery clerk, circuit clerk, tax assessor/collector, all five supervisor districts, coroner, county attorney, justice court judges, constables, election commissioners
School board seats and municipal offices run on their own calendars, and the exact list of Franklin County seats up this cycle can vary; confirm with the Circuit Clerk's office below.
Your Circuit Clerk.
Mississippi runs county qualifying through its 82 Circuit Clerks. The Franklin County Circuit Clerk is where county and county-district candidates file, where independent county petitions are turned in, and the source of truth for local dates, districts, and forms.
- Office
- P.O. Box 267, Meadville, MS 39653
- Phone
- (601) 384-2320
Contact details verified 2026-07-03. If a field is wrong or out of date, the Mississippi Judiciary circuit clerk directory above 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 the primary and in November.
That's what Motion51 is built for. The Franklin County voter file is already loaded: no chasing a CSV or paying a vendor. You scope your district, recruit volunteers, cut turf, and start knocking. The app works offline for neighborhoods 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.