Running for office in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

The short version.

A plain-language guide to how county ballot access works in all 21 New Jersey counties. New Jersey holds its big legislative and local elections in odd years, but that does not make 2026 an empty year for county candidates. County commissioners serve three-year staggered terms, so commissioner seats are on the ballot in every county in every year, even ones. The partisan doors for November 3, 2026 have closed: primary petitions were due at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 23, the primary was held Tuesday, June 2, and the independent petition deadline fell the same day. Two doors stayed open past the partisan ones. Municipalities running a non-partisan election alongside the general took nomination petitions until Thursday, August 20, 2026; a general-election write-in needs no filing at all and so has no deadline to miss. After that the calendar points at November 2, 2027, when all 40 State Senate seats, all 80 General Assembly seats and another round of county and municipal offices are up. There is no Governor's race in 2027.

New Jersey routes candidates by the size of the district rather than by the kind of office. Petitions for county office are addressed to the county clerk; petitions for the State Senate, the General Assembly, a congressional district or anything larger than a single county go to the Secretary of State; everything smaller goes to the municipal clerk (N.J.S.A. 19:23-6). That is why this page leads with the county clerk. The county board of elections and the superintendent or commissioner of registration are separate offices that maintain the voter roll and run the count, and they are listed here too because that is where a campaign goes for the voter list. The body that governs a New Jersey county is the Board of County Commissioners. The old title chosen freeholder was abolished by P.L.2020 c.67 with effect from January 1, 2021; boards have 3, 5, 7 or 9 members depending on the county, and a handful of counties elect some or all of them by district rather than county-wide.

This page covers that for Gloucester 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 New Jersey Division of Elections.

Gloucester County by the numbers.

The 2027 ballot in Gloucester 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. The first list is set for the whole state; the second is specific to Gloucester County.

Statewide dates

• November 2, 2027 General — Municipal. Municipal elections: mayor and governing-body seats in the municipalities whose terms expire and that elect in November.
  Source 1 · Source 2
• November 2, 2027 General — School. School board elections in the large majority of New Jersey school districts -- those that moved their election from April to November.
  Candidate filing: closes Jul 26, 2027.
  Source 1 · Source 2

Local dates in Gloucester County

• February 20, 2027 Nonpartisan — Special District. Annual Fire District Elections — fire district commissioners (and fire district budget questions) in the municipalities that operate fire districts.
  Candidate filing: closes Jan 22, 2027.
  Source 1 · Source 2
• November 2, 2027 General — County. County commissioners (formerly chosen freeholders) in the 21 counties — 3-year staggered terms, so roughly one-third of the statewide total of ~110 seats each year; county sheriffs (3-year terms) in counties whose cycle falls in 2027; county clerks and county surrogates (5-year terms) in counties whose cycle falls in 2027.
  Candidate filing: closes Jun 8, 2027.
  Source 1 · Source 2

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 Gloucester County Clerk before you act on it.

New Jersey election calendar (2026).

New Jersey runs one statewide election calendar for every county. The 2026 dates below are the official ones. The 2027 dates are computed from the statutory formulas rather than published: the Division of Elections had not issued a 2027 chronological timeline when these dates were checked in August 2026, and was expected to do so around late December 2026.

Status as of October 18, 2026. Dates that have already passed are greyed out and marked CLOSED.

• Mon Mar 23, 2026, 4 p.m.CLOSED. Deadline to file a primary petition for county office -- CLOSED. N.J.S.A. 19:23-14 sets this at the 71st day before the primary, as amended by P.L.2022 c.7 and c.70. Do not confuse it with the 64th-day item elsewhere in the same chapter, which is the county clerk's notice of the offices to be filled, not a candidate deadline.
• Tue Jun 2, 2026CLOSED. New Jersey's 2026 primary election -- PAST. The primary falls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June (N.J.S.A. 19:2-1).
• Tue Jun 2, 2026, 4 p.m.CLOSED. Deadline for an independent or direct-nomination petition onto the November general election ballot -- CLOSED. N.J.S.A. 19:13-9 puts this at 4 p.m. on the day the primary is held, not at any point closer to the general election. It is the most commonly misreported deadline in New Jersey, and in 2026 it shut in June.
• Thu Aug 20, 2026CLOSED. Nomination petition deadline for a non-partisan municipal election held on general election day. N.J.S.A. 40:45-8 requires petitions on or before the 75th day before a regular municipal election, which is Thursday, August 20 for a November 3, 2026 election. This route exists only in municipalities that hold non-partisan elections, and many of those vote in May instead. Your municipal clerk is the only office that can tell you which calendar your town is on.
• Tue Nov 3, 2026New Jersey's 2026 general election. On the ballot statewide: one United States Senate seat and all 12 seats in the House of Representatives. In every county: at least one county commissioner seat, and in a number of counties the sheriff, county clerk or surrogate as well. A write-in candidacy needs no advance filing.
• Mon Mar 29, 2027, 4 p.m. (computed)Expected deadline for 2027 primary petitions, computed as the 71st day before the primary under N.J.S.A. 19:23-14, not taken from a published calendar.
• Tue Jun 8, 2027 (computed)Expected 2027 primary election, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June (N.J.S.A. 19:2-1). Independent and direct-nomination petitions would be due at 4 p.m. the same day (N.J.S.A. 19:13-9).
• Tue Nov 2, 2027 (computed)Expected 2027 general election, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (N.J.S.A. 19:2-3). All 40 State Senate seats and all 80 General Assembly seats are up, alongside county and municipal offices. There is no Governor's race: Governor Sherrill was elected in November 2025 to a term running to January 2030, so New Jersey's next gubernatorial election is 2029.

The 2026 dates are official. The 2027 dates are computed from the statutory formulas, and the method was checked by recomputing every 2026 date and matching the published calendar exactly, but they are not official until the Division of Elections issues its 2027 timeline. Which seats appear on your county's ballot in any given year is a county question, and the county clerk is the only office that certifies the answer.

Offices on the ballot in Gloucester County.

These are the elected offices a New Jersey county fills, with the term lengths that decide how often each one comes around. The Division of Elections publishes candidate lists only for federal office; county offices are certified by each of the 21 county clerks separately, so the county clerk is where you confirm what is actually on your ballot in a given year.

• Board of County Commissioners -- 7 members, all elected at large across 24 municipalities, with two or three seats up each year. Commissioners serve 3-year staggered terms, so at least one seat is on the ballot here every year.
• County Commissioner -- on the November 3, 2026 ballot. The County Clerk's certified list is the place to confirm how many seats.
• Surrogate -- on the November 3, 2026 ballot, 5-year term.
• Sheriff and County Clerk -- 3-year and 5-year terms respectively.
• County Executive -- Gloucester has none; the board picks a Director and Deputy Director from among its own members each January and an appointed administrator runs operations.

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

• United States Senator -- one New Jersey seat is on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
• House of Representatives -- all 12 New Jersey seats are on the November 3, 2026 ballot. A congressional petition needs 500 signatures (N.J.S.A. 19:23-8(a), as amended by P.L.2025 c.20).
• State Senate -- all 40 seats, next up on November 2, 2027. The Senate runs a 2-4-4 cycle under N.J. Const. art. IV, Sec. II, para. 2, so its years are 2021, 2023, 2027 and 2031. A petition needs 250 signatures and is filed with the Secretary of State, not with the county clerk (N.J.S.A. 19:23-6).
• General Assembly -- all 80 seats, elected every two years and next up on November 2, 2027. A petition needs 250 signatures and also goes to the Secretary of State.
• Governor -- not on the ballot in 2026 or 2027. Governor Sherrill was elected in November 2025 to a four-year term running to January 2030 (N.J. Const. art. V, Sec. I, para. 5), so New Jersey's next gubernatorial election is 2029. A statewide petition needs 2,500 signatures.

The county offices above run on clocks of their own, and those clocks decide when you can run. The Board of County Commissioners is the county's governing body, and its members serve 3-year staggered terms (R.S. 40:20-2 and 40:20-21) on boards of 3, 5, 7 or 9 members (R.S. 40:20-20). Because the terms stagger, most counties put one to three commissioner seats on the ballot every single year, even-numbered years included. Sheriff is a 3-year term, and County Clerk and Surrogate are 5-year terms (N.J. Const. art. VII, Sec. II, para. 2); the Surrogate is the county's probate court, and the County Clerk is also the office every county candidate files a petition with. A directly elected County Executive exists in only five counties, the charter counties of Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Mercer; everywhere else the board appoints a county administrator or manager, which is a hired job and not an elected one. Municipal office -- mayor, council, committee or commission -- runs on each municipality's own calendar, and non-partisan municipalities vote either in May or alongside the November general election. New Jersey publishes no single statewide list of which county offices are up in a given year. Each county clerk certifies its own, and the counties post them at different times and in different formats. Treat the list on this page as a starting point and confirm it with the county clerk before you gather a single signature.

How to get on the ballot.

There are four routes onto a New Jersey ballot, and none of them costs a filing fee. Two of the four closed for 2026 in the spring: the party primary petition on March 23 and the independent petition on June 2. The other two are a non-partisan municipal petition, which for a November 3, 2026 election was due Thursday, August 20, 2026, and a general-election write-in, which needs no filing.

Non-partisan municipal petition -- deadline Thursday, August 20, 2026.

If your municipality holds a non-partisan election on general election day, nomination petitions are filed with the municipal clerk on or before the 75th day before that election (N.J.S.A. 40:45-8), which for the November 3, 2026 election was Thursday, August 20, 2026. It was the last regular filing deadline on New Jersey's 2026 calendar, and it applies to municipal office, not to county office.

General-election write-in -- no filing required.

New Jersey does not require a write-in candidate to register in advance for the general election. Votes are counted for the person written in, and a plurality wins. After the June 2, 2026 independent petition deadline it was the only way to run for county office in the November 3, 2026 election, and in a low-turnout county race it is not as hopeless as it sounds.

Party primary petition -- closed March 23, 2026; expected to reopen in March 2027.

A candidate seeking a party's nomination for county office files a petition addressed to the county clerk (N.J.S.A. 19:23-6) by 4 p.m. on the 71st day before the primary (N.J.S.A. 19:23-14). For 2026 that was Monday, March 23. The next one is expected on or about Monday, March 29, 2027.

Independent or direct nomination -- closed June 2, 2026.

A candidate running outside the party primaries reaches the general election ballot by a direct nomination petition. The deadline is 4 p.m. on the day the primary is held (N.J.S.A. 19:13-9), which in 2026 was Tuesday, June 2. It is not a deadline that sits close to the general election, and assuming otherwise is the most expensive mistake an independent candidate can make in New Jersey. The next one is expected on or about Tuesday, June 8, 2027.

Filling a vacancy on the ballot.

If a nominee withdraws, dies or is disqualified after the primary, the party committee may name a replacement under the vacancy provisions of N.J.S.A. 19:13. A ballot line can reopen after the primary, which is worth knowing even though it is not something a candidate can plan around. Ask your county clerk what the current status of a seat is.

Statutory references: N.J.S.A. 19:23-6 (petitions for county office are addressed to the county clerk; State Senate, General Assembly, congressional and statewide petitions to the Secretary of State; everything smaller to the municipal clerk) · N.J.S.A. 19:23-14 (primary petitions due 4 p.m. on the 71st day before the primary, as amended by P.L.2022 c.7 and c.70; March 23, 2026) · N.J.S.A. 19:2-1 (primary on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June; June 2, 2026) · N.J.S.A. 19:2-3 (general election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; November 3, 2026) · N.J.S.A. 19:13-9 (direct nomination petitions due before 4 p.m. on the day of the primary election; June 2, 2026) · N.J.S.A. 19:23-8 as amended by P.L.2025 c.20 s.2 (2,500 statewide; 500 per congressional district; 250 for State Senate or General Assembly; for a county, 1 percent of the party's last General Assembly primary vote or 300, whichever is less, with a floor of 150) · No filing fee is prescribed in Title 19. N.J.S.A. 19:23-7 lists what a primary petition must carry -- signatures and addresses, a working e-mail address, and a certificate of qualification with the R.S. 41:1-1 oath -- and money is not among it. · N.J.S.A. 40:45-8 (non-partisan municipal nomination petitions filed with the municipal clerk on or before the 75th day before a regular municipal election; August 20, 2026 for a November 3, 2026 election) · R.S. 40:20-1 as amended by P.L.2020 c.67, effective January 1, 2021 (the board of chosen freeholders became the board of county commissioners); R.S. 40:20-2 and 40:20-21 (3-year staggered terms); R.S. 40:20-20 (boards of 3, 5, 7 or 9 members) · N.J. Const. art. VII, Sec. II, para. 2 (sheriff 3 years; county clerk and surrogate 5 years) · N.J. Const. art. V, Sec. I, para. 5 (four-year gubernatorial term; Governor Sherrill was elected November 2025, so the next gubernatorial election is 2029 and there is no Governor on the 2027 ballot) · N.J. Const. art. IV, Sec. II, para. 2 (State Senate runs a 2-4-4 cycle: 2021, 2023, 2027, 2031; all 80 General Assembly seats are elected every two years) · N.J.S.A. 19:31-18.1(b) (the county commissioner of registration furnishes a list of registered voters in any or all election districts in the county to any voter who requests it, capped at $375) and 19:31-18.1(c) (the only prohibited use is commercial or charitable solicitation of the voters on the list). Fees and signature counts change; confirm before you file.

The Gloucester County Clerk.

This is where a county candidate actually files. N.J.S.A. 19:23-6 addresses every petition for county office to the county clerk, and the clerk's election division is also the office that certifies which county seats are on the ballot, holds the district maps where a county elects commissioners by district, and publishes the certified candidate list.

Petitions for county office go to the County Clerk (N.J.S.A. 19:23-6). The voter roll and the count are run by a separate office: the Gloucester County Board of Elections and the Superintendent of Elections and Commissioner of Registration, both reached at P.O. Box 352, Woodbury, NJ 08096, 856-384-4500, with deliveries other than USPS going to 550 Grove Road, West Deptford, NJ 08066. That is also the office a campaign asks for the county voter list under N.J.S.A. 19:31-18.1(b). Gloucester splits its county government geographically: the county seat and courthouse are in Woodbury, but the Clerk's Election Division, where candidates file and where sample ballots come from, is in West Deptford.

Contact details verified 2026-08-14. Official statewide sources: NJ Division of Elections: County Election Officials · NJ Division of Elections: Candidate Petition Filing · NJ Division of Elections: Candidate Petitions and Forms · NJ Division of Elections: Chronological Election Timelines · NJ Division of Elections: 2026 Election Information · N.J.S.A. 19:23-8 (signature requirements, as amended in 2025) · N.J.S.A. 19:13-9 (independent petition deadline) · New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

Common questions.

After you qualify: the field operation.

New Jersey is the most unevenly shaped canvassing state in the country. Bergen County has 70 municipalities and elects all seven of its commissioners county-wide, so there is no home turf to anchor a campaign in. Hudson County elects all nine of its commissioners by district, and those districts cut across town lines, with Jersey City alone split among several of them. Warren County has a three-member board, so one at-large seat is a third of county government. Monmouth County has five commissioners covering 53 municipalities. The practical consequence is that a county race in New Jersey can mean anything from a few thousand doors in one district to a genuine statewide-scale operation across dozens of towns, and the plan has to be built from the county's actual shape rather than from a generic county-race playbook.

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 Gloucester.

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

See all New Jersey counties →