Check out the Iowa Association of School Board's Filing Basics 101 video, which walks you through the process of getting on the ballot in Iowa!
Questions related to the election process can be directed to Morning Sun's School Business Official, Eric Small by calling 319-868-7701 or by emailing: eric.small@mscsd.org
The school election is held in odd-numbered years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November to elect school district directors and vote on public measures for these jurisdictions. It is held in conjunction with the regular city election, so the election is known as the city-school election.
Candidate Qualifications
A candidate must be an eligible elector in the school district at the time of the election. An eligible voter meets all of the requirements to register to vote but does not have to be registered to vote.
An eligible elector must be:
- A citizen of the United States
- A resident of Iowa
- At least 18 years old
An eligible elector may not:
- Be a convicted felon (unless voting rights have been restored by the president or governor, including via Executive Order)
- Be currently judged incompetent to vote by a court
- Claim the right to vote in any other place
Controlling Auditor
When a city, school district, or community college crosses county lines, the auditor whose county has the largest taxable base is the “controlling auditor”. The controlling auditor is responsible for receiving candidate nomination papers and public measures, developing summaries, and certifying names and the text of public measures and summaries to all auditors for that political subdivision.
Each auditor is responsible for administering elections for cities, school districts, or portions thereof, for all voters within the auditor’s county. In a situation where a city or school district lies in multiple counties, each auditor will print ballots and service voters for the portion within the auditor’s county.
For city primary and runoff elections or special elections for cities, schools or merged areas, the non-control county auditor may designate the controlling auditor to conduct the election if fewer than 125 registered voters of the shared jurisdiction reside in the non-control county.
Nomination Papers
Each candidate must file an affidavit of candidacy and nomination petitions with the school secretary or community college board secretary. The affidavit of candidacy and nomination petitions must be filed together or they will be rejected.
Copies of nomination papers are available at the school secretary’s office, county auditor’s office, or on the Secretary of State’s website:
https://sos.iowa.gov/school-elections
Filing Period
Nomination papers must be filed with the school secretary during the filing period. They cannot be filed before or after the filing period. The filing period is:
First day: Monday, August 25, 2025
Last day: Thursday, September 18, 2025 – 5:00 p.m.
There are no filing fees in Iowa.
Affidavit of Candidacy - Fillable PDF - Click Here
Nomination Papers - Fillable PDF - Click Here
Preparing Nomination Papers
Affidavit of Candidacy
Each candidate must complete and file an affidavit of candidacy. The affidavit of candidacy form is available on the Secretary of State’s website:
https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/pdf/candidates/affidavit.pdf
The affidavit should include the following information:
- Candidate’s NameThe candidate’s name should be printed exactly as the candidate wishes the name to appear on the ballot. No parentheses, quotation marks, or titles (e.g. Dr., Mrs., etc.) may be included. Please provide the phonetic spelling of the candidate’s name. This is helpful for producing audio ballots for voters who are visually impaired. Be as clear as possible. For example, Eisenhower = “EYES-in-how-er.”
- Office Sought and Director District (if any)The name of the office, school district, and director district (if any) that the candidate is running for must be included.
- Vacancy InformationIs the candidate running to fill a vacancy due to the death, resignation, removal, or temporary appointment of an office holder?The “yes” box must be checked if the candidate is running to fill the remainder of an unexpired term. This happens when an incumbent office holder resigned, died, or was removed from office before the end of the term and another officer was appointed (not elected) to fill the remainder of the unexpired term.Contact the school secretary and county auditor with questions about whether you are running to fill a vacancy.
- Type and Date of ElectionThe 2025 Regular City–School Election will be held on Tuesday, November 4.
- Candidate’s Home AddressCandidates must provide their house number and street name. Mailing address, phone, and email are optional but do assist the school secretary, county auditor, and the public in contacting the candidate.
- Candidate’s Affirmation, Signature and NotarizationThe affidavit must be notarized. A notarial officer must be present when the candidate signs the affidavit and the notarial officer will complete the verification on the bottom of the affidavit. Once an affidavit is notarized, the affidavit cannot be altered.
Affidavits missing any of the information listed below must be rejected:
- Candidate’s name
- Office sought and ward (if any)
- Candidate’s signature
- Signature of notary public
The candidate’s party affiliation should be left blank.
Nomination Petitions
Candidates must collect signatures on nomination petitions and file the petitions at the same time the affidavit of candidacy is filed.
The nomination petition form for school district candidates is available on the Secretary of State’s website: http://sos.iowa.gov/elections/pdf/candidates/nompetnonpartisan.pdf.
The nomination petition form for community college candidates is available on the Secretary of State’s website: http://sos.iowa.gov/elections/pdf/candidates/ccnompet.pdf.
Candidate Information
Before anyone signs the petition, the required information in the candidate header of every petition page must be completed.
Best Practice: Complete the candidate header on one petition page and make copies of that page so all petition page candidate headings are identical.
The information listed below must appear on each petition candidate header. Signatures cannot be counted on petition pages missing the following information:
- Candidate’s Name
The candidate’s name should be printed exactly as the candidate wishes the name to appear on the ballot. No parentheses, quotation marks, or titles (e.g. Dr., Mrs., etc.) may be included.
- Office Sought - Director
- School District/Community College and Director District (if any)The candidate must provide the director district number when running for a director district seat. Signatures on petition pages that do not provide the applicable director district number (when required) cannot be counted.
- Type and Date of Election: The 2025 Regular City-School Election will be held on Tuesday, November 4.
- Signers’ and Candidate’s Affirmation of ResidenceThe following statement must appear on each petition page: “We, the undersigned eligible electors of the appropriate county, city, school district, school or community college director district, or other district as established by law, hereby make the nomination outlined above. If the candidate named above accepts the nomination, we believe the candidate is or will be a resident of the appropriate county, city, school district, school or community college director district, or other district established by law as required by law.”
The following information also should appear on each petition header:
- Candidate’s County and City of Residence
- Vacancy InformationIs the candidate running to fill a vacancy due to the death, resignation, removal, or temporary appointment of an office holder?The “yes” box must be checked if the candidate is running to fill the remainder of an unexpired term. This happens when an incumbent office holder resigned, died, or was removed from office before the end of the term and another officer was appointed (not elected) to fill the remainder of the unexpired term.Contact the school secretary and county auditor with questions about whether you are running to fill a vacancy.
Signature Requirements for School Board
The minimum number of signatures needed depends on the number of registered voters in the school district as of May 1, 2025. Signature requirements for candidates who are elected only by the voters of a director district are based on the number of registered voters in that director district.
Ask the school secretary or the controlling auditor for the minimum number of signatures needed in your school district. For the 2025 Morning Sun Community School District Election, the signature requirement is 10 signatures.
Collecting Signatures
Eligible electors of the appropriate school district and director district (if applicable) or community college and director district (if applicable) may sign nomination petitions. See page 1 for the definition of an eligible elector.
At-Large Districts
In school districts where directors may live anywhere in the school district, the number of signatures needed is calculated from the number of registered voters in the entire school district. Petition signers may live anywhere in the school district.
Candidates may sign their own petitions assuming they are eligible electors of the school district and director district (if applicable). Candidates may begin collecting signatures at any time. However, the signers still must be eligible electors when the papers are filed in order for the signatures to count.
There is no limit on the number of nomination petitions one elector may sign for different candidates.
All signers must include the following information:
- A signature (the signature may be printed)
- The address of their residence -This must include a house number, street name, and city. Providing a post office box only is not sufficient. A signer who is homeless should describe where the signer lives or write “homeless”.
- The date of signing
Important Note: Petition signers often use “ditto” marks ( “ ) when appropriate (e.g. when the name of a city or the date of signing the petition is the same as the previous signer). The use of ditto marks alone does not invalidate a signature.
Filing Checklist
- Review affidavit and nomination petition headers.
Nothing can be added to a notarized affidavit or a petition header if there are signatures on the page. Nomination papers can be returned only if they have been rejected.
- Count the signatures.
Best Practice: File more than the required number of signatures since it is possible for signatures to be challenged. If there are signatures on a petition that should not be included, simply draw a line through the names. Those signatures will not be counted.
- Make a copy of nomination papers for own records.
- Bind nomination papers together.
Nomination papers may be rejected without examination if not bound together.
Best Practice: Use staples or a three-ring binder.
- File both the affidavit and nomination petitions at the same time.
- File both the affidavit and nomination petitions at the same time.
Nomination papers will be inspected for completeness before they are accepted for filing. If nomination papers are filed early, candidates may have time to correct any errors in rejected papers and resubmit them.
Nomination papers may be filed in person or by mail. When filing by mail, postmark dates are irrelevant. The school secretary must receive the papers by 5:00 p.m. on the filing deadline. If candidates would like to be contacted when their nomination papers have been received, they should indicate that when they mail their papers and include a daytime phone number at which they can be reached.
Important Note: It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure the nomination papers are received by the school secretary before the deadline.