The presidential primaries are winding down, but we are not done with the primary season. There are still lots of races that need candidates, and soon, the deadline to run will be upon us.

Have you ever wanted to run for office?

In the August primary and the November general election, Florida voters will decide on:

  • 1 U.S. Senate seat
  • 27 Congressional seats
  • 40 Florida Senate seats
  • 120 Florida House seats
  • A plethora of county seats

As of May 4, 2016, two U.S. House candidates, 18 Florida Senate candidates (almost half the Senate seats) and 37 Florida House candidates are running unopposed. You can find the candidate list on the Florida Division of Elections website. That means if no one runs against them, they will win their seats outright at the end of qualifying. Many of these candidates are incumbents for their office.

If you've ever considered running for office, now is the time to get your campaign in order.

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What are the basic requirements to run for office?

It does not take much to run for office in Florida.

To run for the U.S. Senate, you must be:

  • A U.S. citizen for at least nine years
  • At least 30 years old
  • A resident of the state you are running for when elected 

To run for the U.S. House, you must be:

  • A U.S. citizen for at least seven years
  • At least 25 years old
  • Live in the state when elected (which means you actually don’t have to be a resident of the U.S. Congressional district you are running for)

To run for Florida's House or Senate, you must be:

  • At least 21 years old
  • A resident of Florida for at least two years prior to the election
  • A voter and resident of the district you are running for upon taking office

To run for a county office, you should be a registered voter and a resident of the county in which you are running for office. However, candidate requirements may vary depending on the county, so check with your elections supervisor.

Don’t I have to pay to run for office?

Not necessarily, though at this point it might be the easier option. There are three ways to run for office.

PAY A QUALIFYING FEE

This fee is based on the average salary associated with the office for which you are running.  If you’re running for federal or state office and want to be the candidate for a political party, the fee is more than it would be for "no party affiliation," or NPA.

Here are the 2016 fees according to the Florida Division of Elections:

  • U.S. Senator/Representative:
    • Partisan: $10,440
    • NPA: $6,960
  • Florida Senator/Representative:
    • Partisan: $1,781.82
    • NPA: $1,187.88

County qualifying fees are different depending on the county you're running in and the position. Check with your Supervisor of Elections office.

QUALIFY BY PETITION

Rather than pay a fee, you can gather petition signatures to get on the ballot. Depending on the position you are qualifying for, you may need to gather hundreds, if not thousands, of signatures. So this method requires more time.

  • U.S. Senator: 119,316
  • Representative in Congress: 2,298
  • State Senator: 1,552
  • Florida House: Determined by registered voters in the district for which you are campaigning. Find your district here.

County races are also determined by number of registered voters. If you are running for an office such as county commissioner or school board member or a countywide position such as sheriff, check with your county to find out how many signatures you need.

No matter what, though, all petitions need to be in by May 23 so that elections officials can get the signatures verified by the start of qualifying. All petitions must be certified by June 13.

You also must file an appointment of campaign treasurer and designation of campaign depository for candidates form before you can even gather petitions. You can find those forms on the Florida Division of Elections site, or at your county Supervisor of Elections office.

WRITE-IN CANDIDATE

If neither of these options work for you, you can qualify to run as a write-in candidate. You don’t need to collect petition signatures or pay a fee, but you still will need to meet qualifying requirements. Plus, your name will not be on the ballot. People will have to write your name into an available space. That will make campaigning a lot harder.

When do I qualify?

All prospective candidates fill out qualifying paperwork with the appropriate agency.

The qualifying period runs from noon June 20 to noon June 24.

If you are running for federal or state office, you have to file your qualifying paperwork with the Florida Division of Elections in Tallahassee. You don’t have to go to Tallahassee to do it. The state qualifying handbook, however, says the U.S. Postal Service does not deliver mail directly to the Division of Elections office. If you can't deliver your paperwork in person in Tallahassee, the agency suggests submitting it with an express courier delivery service.

The state will start accepting qualifying documents as early as June 6. If you want to make sure your paperwork is in on time and correct, it’s important to get it in as quickly as possible.

If you are running for county office, you can file your qualifying papers with your county Supervisor of Elections office during that time.

What forms do I need?

All the documents you need to fill out to run for office are available online through the Florida Division of Elections.

To file to run for office, you will need to appoint a treasurer for your campaign (because someone will need to be in charge of your campaign funds), and affirm that you know the rules to run for office.

Once you file, you can run for office.

That's when things can get complicated. There is fundraising, plus rules for ethical campaigning. It helps to have a network of people who can help: friends, coworkers, family. That's why many people who run for office usually are known in their community, either through their career or through volunteer efforts or activism.

Or they belong to a political party.

Or they have a lot of money.

The Florida Bar offers 10 things to know before you run for public office.

But in a year in which the outsider has a fighting chance, if you have the dedication and the drive to be a good civil servant, maybe running for office is for you.