The short version.
Missouri runs two separate election calendars, and which one you are aiming at decides everything else. County offices, the legislature and the statewide offices are elected in November of even-numbered years, with a party primary in August. Cities, school districts, fire districts and the other local boards are elected in April, every single year. A candidate who reads the November rules while running for a school board seat will miss the filing window by months.
The other thing worth knowing early is who runs your election. In most of Missouri that is the county clerk, and their office is where you file. But six jurisdictions have a separate board of election commissioners or an appointed director instead, and in those the county clerk is not the election authority. Kansas City has its own board covering the part of the city inside Jackson County. This page names the right office for the county you are looking at.
This page covers that for Miller 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 Missouri Secretary of State.
Miller County by the numbers.
- In 2024, Miller County cast 13,009 votes for president: 83.2% Republican, 15.9% 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 Miller County voter file the moment you send it over, so you can start finding your people now.
Missouri election calendar (2026).
Filing for the 2026 cycle closed on March 31, 2026 and the primary was held on August 4, 2026, so for county office the next opportunity is 2028. The nearer opportunity, and the one most first-time candidates are actually looking for, is the general municipal election in April 2027: city council, school board, fire district and the rest. Filing for that opens in December.
- Tue Nov 3, 2026General election. County offices whose terms are up, the legislature and the statewide and federal seats. Filing for this closed on March 31, 2026.
- Tue Dec 15, 2026, 8:00 a.m.Filing OPENS for the April 2027 general municipal election, covering city, school district and special district seats. This is the sixteenth Tuesday before the election (RSMo 115.127.5).
- Tue Jan 5, 2027, 5:00 p.m.Filing CLOSES for the April 2027 municipal election. This is the thirteenth Tuesday before the election. Note that the statute was amended effective August 28, 2026 and moved this deadline a week earlier than the rule that governed previous April elections.
- Tue Apr 6, 2027General municipal election day: cities, school districts, fire districts and other political subdivisions. Missouri holds one of these every April (RSMo 115.121.3).
- Tue Feb 29, 2028, 8:00 a.m.Filing OPENS for county, legislative and statewide office, on the last Tuesday in February (RSMo 115.349.2).
- Tue Mar 28, 2028, 5:00 p.m.Filing CLOSES for county, legislative and statewide office, on the last Tuesday in March (RSMo 115.349.1). There is no grace period.
- Tue Aug 8, 2028Primary election. Missouri's primary is where most county races are actually decided in the counties that lean heavily one way.
- Tue Nov 7, 2028General election for county, legislative, statewide and federal office.
The April filing dates above are the statutory default and they apply only where a city or district's own charter does not set its own. Charter cities in Missouri frequently do set their own, so confirm your dates with your election authority before you rely on them. Special elections to fill vacancies run on their own schedule. Dates and rules on this page were checked against the current text of Chapter 115 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, including the amendment to section 115.127 that takes effect on August 28, 2026.
Offices on the ballot in Miller County.
Missouri county offices run on four-year terms, and they are deliberately staggered so that they do not all come up in the same year. These are the kinds of seat on a county ballot:
- US House seat covering your county, and the statewide and legislative offices on the ballot this cycle
- County offices whose four-year terms end this year, which in most counties includes some of: presiding or associate commissioner, county clerk, collector, treasurer, recorder of deeds, assessor, auditor, coroner, public administrator, prosecuting attorney, sheriff and circuit clerk
- City, school district, fire district and other local seats, which are elected in April rather than November
Which county seats appear on your ballot in a given year depends on your county's classification and on when each seat was last filled, and charter counties (Jackson, St. Louis County, St. Charles and Jefferson among them) organise their offices differently again. Your election authority holds the definitive list for your county and is the office that will take your filing, so treat this as the shape of a county ballot rather than the final word on your own seat.
How to get on the ballot.
Missouri keeps this simpler than most states. You file a declaration of candidacy in person or by certified mail, sworn before an official who can administer an oath, inside the filing window. What differs is what it costs and whether you need signatures, and that depends entirely on whether you are running with a party.
Running with a party: pay $100 and file.
For county office the filing fee is one hundred dollars, and it is set in statute rather than by your county, so it is the same figure everywhere in Missouri (RSMo 115.357.1). It is not a government charge: it is paid to the treasurer of your party's county central committee, though in practice you can hand it to the official taking your declaration and they forward it. For comparison the same statute charges three hundred dollars for state senator or circuit judge and one hundred and fifty for state representative. Pay it before your declaration is filed, because until the fee is paid your name does not go on the ballot.
Running as an independent or a new party: no fee at all.
Missouri charges no filing fee to an independent candidate, a new party candidate or a candidate for presidential elector (RSMo 115.357.4). What replaces it is a petition: instead of appearing in a party primary in August you qualify directly for the November ballot by gathering signatures from registered voters in the area you want to represent. The count is set against the vote at the last election for that office rather than as a flat number, so ask your election authority for the exact figure for your seat before you start collecting, and start early.
If you cannot afford the fee, the fee is not the barrier.
Missouri has a route that a lot of candidates never hear about. You may file a sworn declaration of inability to pay the filing fee, and the fee is waived (RSMo 115.357.3). In its place you file a petition endorsing your candidacy signed by registered voters in your district equal to at least one percent of the total votes cast for that office at the last election it was contested. The declaration and the petition are filed at the same time and in the same way as your declaration of candidacy, and the petition is checked the same way an independent candidate's is.
April elections work differently from November ones.
City, school district and special district races in April are non-partisan, so there is no party primary and no party filing fee in the sense above. You file directly with the subdivision that is holding the election, usually its clerk rather than the county election authority, and the window is short: it opens on the sixteenth Tuesday before the election and closes on the thirteenth. For April 2027 that is December 15, 2026 to January 5, 2027. Districts sometimes fill by lottery the order names appear on the ballot among those who file at the moment the window opens, which is why people queue at 8:00 a.m. on the opening day.
Statutory references: RSMo 115.121 sets the three election days: the general in November of even years, the primary in August of even years, and a general municipal election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April every year. · RSMo 115.127.5 sets the default filing window for a political subdivision or special district: it opens at 8:00 a.m. on the sixteenth Tuesday before the election and closes at 5:00 p.m. on the thirteenth Tuesday before it, unless the subdivision's own law or charter says otherwise. The thirteenth-Tuesday closing date takes effect on August 28, 2026. · RSMo 115.349 sets the county, legislative and statewide filing window: it opens at 8:00 a.m. on the last Tuesday in February and closes at 5:00 p.m. on the last Tuesday in March before the August primary. · RSMo 115.357 sets the filing fees, exempts independent and new party candidates entirely, and creates the declaration of inability to pay with its one percent petition.. Fees and signature counts change; confirm before you file.
The Miller County Clerk.
This is your local election authority: the office that takes your declaration of candidacy for county office, runs the count, and answers the questions this page cannot, like exactly which seats are on your ballot and which district you live in. In most of Missouri it is the county clerk, but not everywhere.
- Office
- 2001 Hwy 52, Tuscumbia, MO 65082
- Phone
- (573) 369-1910
Contact details verified 2026-08-12. Official statewide sources: Missouri Secretary of State: information for candidates · Find your local election authority · Missouri election law, Chapter 115 RSMo.
Common questions.
When is the next election in Miller County?
The general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026, covering county offices whose terms are up along with the legislative and statewide seats. Before that comes the general municipal election on Tuesday, April 6, 2027 for city, school district and fire district seats, which is a separate ballot on a separate calendar.
When is the filing deadline to run for office in Miller County?
It depends which ballot you want. For county office, filing runs from the last Tuesday in February to 5:00 p.m. on the last Tuesday in March of the election year, so for the next county cycle that is February 29 to March 28, 2028. For the April 2027 city and school elections, filing opens 8:00 a.m. on December 15, 2026 and closes 5:00 p.m. on January 5, 2027.
How much does it cost to run for county office in Miller County?
One hundred dollars. Missouri sets county filing fees in statute rather than county by county, so the figure is the same in Miller County as everywhere else in the state (RSMo 115.357). It is paid to the treasurer of your party's county central committee. Independent and new party candidates pay nothing at all, and a candidate who cannot afford the fee can have it waived by filing a sworn declaration and a petition instead.
How many signatures do I need to get on the ballot in Miller County?
None, if you are running in a party primary and paying the hundred dollar fee. You need a petition if you are running as an independent or a new party candidate, or if you are asking for the fee to be waived. For the fee waiver the petition needs signatures from registered voters equal to one percent of the total votes cast for that office at the last election for it, so the number depends on the seat. Your election authority will tell you the exact figure.
Where do I file to run for office in Miller County?
With the Miller County election authority named on this page, whose address and phone number are above. For city, school district and fire district seats in April you usually file with that subdivision's own clerk rather than with the county.
How many registered voters are in Miller County?
The Missouri Secretary of State publishes registration and turnout figures by county. Motion51 does not hold the Missouri voter file, so rather than republish a number that may be out of date we point you at the state's own figures and at your election authority.
Can I run for office in Miller County without a party?
Yes, and it costs less. Missouri charges independent and new party candidates no filing fee. The trade is that you skip the August primary and qualify for the November ballot by petition instead, gathering signatures from registered voters in the area you want to represent. Start that early, because the count is tied to turnout at the last election for the seat and can be larger than people expect.
After you qualify: the field operation.
Missouri's filing paperwork is genuinely light: a sworn declaration, a hundred dollars, and you are on the ballot. That is also the problem, because it means everybody else can do it just as easily, and in a lot of Missouri counties the August primary rather than the November general is where the seat is really decided. That moves the real deadline forward by three months. The campaign that knows which precincts turn out in an August primary, and has already knocked them, is usually finished before the general election begins.
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 Miller.
Running in a district that crosses a county line? Each of these has its own guide.