Running for office in Bedford County, Tennessee.

The short version.

A plain-language guide to how county ballot access works in every one of Tennessee's 95 counties. Tennessee's county general election was held on Thursday, August 6, 2026, and the next one is in August 2030, so a county seat is not what you can still run for this year. Two doors are open. A declared write-in candidacy for the November 3, 2026 ballot costs nothing, needs no signatures beyond your own, and can be filed up to noon on Monday, September 14, 2026. It has to be filed in every county of your district or your votes are not counted there. And in the cities and towns that hold a municipal election on the November date, qualifying closes at noon on Thursday, August 20, 2026. Click the map or use the list.

Tennessee runs its elections through 95 county election commissions, one per county, and that is the office that takes your paperwork. It is also the office that sells you the voter list. Tennessee is unusual in two ways worth knowing before you plan a campaign: it does not register voters by party at all, so there is no party column on the list, and its signature requirement is a flat twenty-five registered voters for every office in the state rather than a percentage of anything.

This page covers that for Bedford 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 Tennessee Division of Elections.

Bedford County by the numbers.

Tennessee election calendar (2026).

The dates below are set by the Tennessee Election Code and apply statewide unless noted. Tennessee moved one of them recently, so treat any calendar you find elsewhere with suspicion: the qualifying deadline for the August election used to be the first Thursday in April, and a 2024 amendment moved it to the second Tuesday in March.

• Tue Mar 10, 2026, noonQualifying deadline for the August 6 election, which in 2026 carried both the county general and the state and federal primaries. Closed. This is the date that moved: it was the first Thursday in April until 2024 Tennessee Acts chapter 822 changed it to the second Tuesday in March.
• Tue May 5, 2026County primary elections, in the counties whose party executive committees called one.
• Fri May 15, 2026, noonSpecial qualifying deadline for United States House candidates only, created when Tennessee redrew its congressional districts for this cycle. Closed. This one did not apply to any state or county office.
• Thu Aug 6, 2026Regular August election. This was the county general election, held at the same time as the state and federal primaries. County mayor, sheriff, trustee, register of deeds, county clerk, court clerks and county commission seats were all decided here.
• Thu Aug 20, 2026, noonSTILL OPEN, AND IT CLOSES FIRST. Qualifying deadline for candidates in municipal elections held on the November 3 date. Not every city holds one, so ask the county election commission on this page whether any municipality where you live is on the November ballot.
• Thu Aug 27, 2026, noonWithdrawal deadline for candidates who qualified by August 20.
• Mon Sep 14, 2026, noonSTILL OPEN. Last day to file a notice asking that write-in votes for you be counted, 50 days before the election. No fee, and no signatures other than your own. It must be filed in every single county of your district, and your votes are only counted in the counties where you filed.
• Mon Oct 5, 2026Voter registration deadline for the November election.
• Thu Oct 29, 2026Last day of early voting. This is also the deadline to withdraw a write-in notice, which is the fifth day before the election.
• Tue Nov 3, 2026State and federal general election, held together with municipal elections in the cities that hold them in November.
• August 2030The next county general election. County offices in Tennessee run on four-year terms anchored to the regular August election, and the terms that began on September 1, 2026 run to August 31, 2030.

Two of these dates vary by county and the statute says so. The qualifying deadline for the August election is the third Thursday in February in a county whose party executive committee called a May primary, and the second Tuesday in March in a county that did not, which is a county-level decision rather than state law. And school board elections are set locally: some Tennessee counties elect their school board in August and some in November, some do it on party lines and some do not, and the terms are staggered. Confirm both with the county election commission on this page.

Offices on the ballot in Bedford County.

Tennessee's county offices and its state and federal offices sit on different calendars. The November 3, 2026 ballot is the state and federal one.

• County mayor, sheriff, trustee, register of deeds, county clerk, the court clerks and county commission seats in Bedford County. All of these were decided at the regular August election on Thursday, August 6, 2026, for four-year terms running to August 31, 2030. The next county general election is in August 2030.
• Assessor of property is NOT on that cycle. It is a four-year term elected in the even-numbered year without a governor's race, so 2024 and next 2028, which means it was not on Bedford County's 2026 ballot.
• Judges and District Attorneys General serve 8-year terms and were last elected in 2022, so they are next up in 2030. Retention votes on appellate judges and elections to fill an unexpired term can still appear in other years, which is why Bedford County may have had judicial questions on a recent ballot without the 8-year cycle having moved.
• School board seats covering Bedford County. Tennessee sets the month locally rather than statewide, so some counties elect their school board in August and some in November, some on party lines and some not, and the terms are staggered. Ask the office below which applies here.
• Whether Bedford County elects a constable, and whether it elects or appoints its road superintendent, are local questions. Tennessee Code 8-10-101 lets a county set a 2-year or 4-year constable term or abolish the office entirely, and Tennessee Code 54-7-103 leaves the highway office elected in some counties and appointed in others.

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

• Governor, elected to a 4-year term. The 2026 race is an open seat.
• United States Senator. Tennessee's Class 2 Senate seat is on the 2026 ballot. This is a regular election, not a special.
• United States Representative. All 9 Tennessee congressional seats are elected every 2 years. Note that Tennessee redrew its congressional district lines for this cycle and the new map is in effect, so the district you live in may not be the one you lived in two years ago. A legal challenge to the map is still pending, but the courts declined to stop it being used.
• State Representative. All 99 Tennessee House seats are elected every 2 years.
• State Senator, but only in the odd-numbered districts. Tennessee's 33 Senate districts run on staggered 4-year terms, and the Secretary of State's own 2026 calendar states that the odd-numbered districts are the ones on this year's ballot, which is 17 of the 33.
• Municipal offices, in those cities and towns that hold their elections in November rather than in August. Qualifying for those closes at noon on August 20, 2026.

Three things vary county to county and no statewide rule covers them. Constable is a 2-year office by default, but Tennessee Code 8-10-101 lets a county set a 2-year or 4-year term, and a long list of population brackets abolishes the office outright, so some counties have constables and some do not. The road superintendent or chief administrative officer of the highway department is elected in some counties and appointed in others. And the three metropolitan governments genuinely disagree with each other about their own cycles. Ask the county election commission on this page rather than assuming.

How to get on the ballot.

Tennessee offers three routes onto a ballot. Two of them are still open for November 3, 2026, and the county route closed in March.

Write-in candidacy. Open until noon on Monday, September 14, 2026.

This is the route with the most time left on it, and it is also the one with the trap. Tennessee Code 2-7-133(h)(1) requires a person seeking election by write-in ballot to file a notice asking that their votes be counted, in each county of the district, no later than noon 50 days before the general election. Fifty days before November 3, 2026 is Monday, September 14, 2026. The provision sits in a section headed Void ballots, which is why people miss it.

Municipal qualifying for a November election. Open until noon on Thursday, August 20, 2026.

Tennessee's cities and towns do not all vote at the same time. Where a municipality holds its election on the November general date, Tennessee Code 2-5-101(a)(1) and (a)(4) set qualifying at noon on the third Thursday in the third calendar month before the election, which for November 3, 2026 is Thursday, August 20, 2026. This is the door that closes first, and it is the only one on this page where a candidate's own name goes on the printed ballot rather than being written in.

County office. Closed since noon on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, and the next one is 2030.

County offices in Tennessee are filled at the regular August election, which was Thursday, August 6, 2026. Qualifying for it closed at noon on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. Tennessee Code 5-6-102(2) anchors the county mayor to the regular August election in 1978 and every four years after, which lands on 2026 and next on 2030, and the terms that began September 1, 2026 run through August 31, 2030. If a county seat is what you want, the date to work back from is the qualifying deadline in the spring of 2030, not anything in 2026.

Statutory references: Tennessee charges no state qualifying or filing fee for county, legislative or statewide office. Tennessee Code 2-13-207 is the only fee provision in the Election Code and it is a permissive ceiling available to a metropolitan government council for county primaries that it funds. · Tennessee Code 2-5-101(b)(1). Nominating petitions shall be signed by the candidate and twenty-five or more registered voters who are eligible to vote to fill the office. A flat twenty-five for every office in the state. Tennessee Code 2-5-101(b)(3) adds that a person's regular signature is accepted just as their legal signature would be. · Tennessee Code 2-7-133(h)(1). A write-in notice must be filed in each county of the district no later than noon 50 days before the general election, and votes are counted only in the counties where it was filed. Tennessee Code 2-7-133(h)(2) bars anyone defeated at the primary. · Tennessee Code 2-5-101(a). The deadline for the August election is the second Tuesday in March, changed from the first Thursday in April by 2024 Tennessee Acts chapter 822. The catch-all in 2-5-101(a)(1), and the municipal rule in 2-5-101(a)(4), set noon on the third Thursday in the third calendar month before any other election. · Tennessee Code 2-1-104(25) puts the regular August election on the first Thursday in August of every even-numbered year, and 2-3-202 puts the county offices on that ballot. Tennessee Code 5-6-102(2) anchors the county mayor to the August election in 1978 and every four years thereafter, which is 2026 and then 2030. · The assessor of property is not on the county cycle. It is a 4-year term elected in the even year without a governor's race, so 2024, 2028 and 2032. The anchor year is not in the statute text and comes from a 1973 act, so confirm it with your county election commission. · Tennessee Code 2-2-138(b)(1). The county voter list, and other registration information such as voter history if it has been compiled, is available for purchase at a price not to exceed the cost of production, to any person who certifies on a state form that the list will be used for political purposes. Tennessee Code 2-2-127(a) redacts the social security number and nothing else.. Fees and signature counts change; confirm before you file.

The Bedford County Election Commission.

This is the office that runs elections where you live, takes your paperwork, and sells you the voter list. Tennessee has exactly one county election commission per county and there is no city board of elections sitting alongside it, so unlike some states there is only ever one office to deal with. The one thing to watch is that a write-in notice for a district covering more than one county has to go to each of those counties separately.

Contact details verified 2026-08-16. Official statewide sources: Tennessee Division of Elections · Tennessee Division of Elections: write-in candidacy and the certificate form · Key dates for the 2026 election cycle · Find your county election commission.

Common questions.

After you qualify: the field operation.

A Tennessee write-in campaign starting in September has about seven weeks, and it has to teach voters an unfamiliar mechanic as well as win them over: on a machine, a voter has to ask the ballot judge for a paper ballot before entering the booth in order to write a name in at all. That is a lot to explain at the door, and it means the doors you pick matter more than the number you knock. The good news for targeting is that Tennessee counties compile voting history and sell it with the list where they have it, so you can rank households by who actually turns out rather than guessing. The bad news is that Tennessee has no party registration, so the list will not tell you who your people are. That is a canvassing problem, which is the kind we are built for.

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 Bedford.

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

See all Tennessee counties →