Campaign Operations Checklist for Local Candidates

People picture campaigns as speeches and debates. A local campaign is mostly something plainer: a few dozen tasks, done in roughly the right order, without letting the legal ones slip. Candidates who stay organized tend to look more credible than candidates who have more money but miss deadlines.

This checklist walks through those tasks by phase. If you'd rather check items off as you go, use the free campaign operations checklist tool. It has the same tasks, and your progress saves in your browser.

Phase 1: Decide with your eyes open

Before you file anything, make sure you know what you're signing up for. These steps cost nothing but time, and they save a lot of regret.

Read about the office and sit through at least one public meeting. Our guides on county council, school board and city offices are a good start.
Talk honestly with your family and your employer about the time a campaign and the job will take.
If you work for any level of government, check the Hatch Act and your employer's rules before you announce.
Write two sentences on why you're running. You'll use them on every page, card and doorstep.
Take the readiness self-check to see where you stand.

Phase 2: Qualify and file

This is the part with hard deadlines. Miss one and the rest of the list doesn't matter.

Confirm the age, residency and voter registration requirements for your seat.
Get the candidate packet from your election office and read it twice.
Find out whether you'll pay a filing fee, gather petition signatures, or both.
Form your committee, name a treasurer and open a separate bank account if your state requires it. Our guide to forming a campaign committee covers the usual steps.
Complete any ethics or financial disclosure forms.
File for office well before the deadline, and keep a copy of everything you submit.

Phase 3: Money and records

Good records are your protection. Set them up before the first dollar arrives, not after.

Build a line-item budget with the campaign budget builder.
Start a simple recordkeeping system for every contribution and expense.
Learn your contribution limits and reporting dates.
List your first 50 potential donors and make the calls. Our guide to raising your first dollars explains how.

Phase 4: Public presence

Voters will look you up. Give them one trustworthy place to land.

Register a campaign domain and launch a simple website with your bio, priorities, events and a way to donate or volunteer. See what to put on your campaign website.
Get a few good photos taken in daylight.
Learn your state's paid-for-by disclaimer rules and apply them to everything you publish or print.
Set up a campaign social media page and an email list, separate from your personal accounts.

Phase 5: Calendar and compliance

Put every election date and finance report date on one calendar with the election calendar builder.
Set reminders a week before each compliance deadline.
Work through your first 30 days after filing.

Phase 6: Meet the voters

This is where most of your hours go, and where local races are usually won. Each item has its own guide.

Recruit a treasurer, a volunteer lead and a few dependable helpers. See building a small campaign team.
Get your district's voter list from the proper official source. In South Carolina, for example, the State Election Commission sells voter registration lists to registered South Carolina voters. Our guide to working with voter lists explains what's in them.
Plan door-knocking routes and a short script with door-knocking basics. Leave literature at the door, never in the mailbox. The U.S. Postal Service says mailboxes are for postage-paid mail only.
Order yard signs and palm cards early enough to proof them carefully.
Hold a kickoff event, even a small one in a living room or church fellowship hall, if the venue allows it.
Ask for endorsements from people your neighbors already trust.
Make an Election Day plan: who greets voters, who drives, who checks on volunteers. Learn your state's no-campaigning zone around polling places first. South Carolina, for example, bars campaign literature and posters within 200 feet of any entrance voters use.

Phase 7: After Election Day

Win or lose, the campaign isn't finished when the polls close.

Thank your voters, donors and volunteers in person and in writing.
Pick up every yard sign you placed, and check whether your town sets a removal deadline.
File your final finance reports on time.
Close or keep your committee under your state's rules. Our guide to closing out after Election Day walks through it.

How to keep the list from overwhelming you

Forty-odd tasks can feel like a lot when you also have a job and a family. A few habits make it manageable.

Pick one weekly check-in. Sunday evening or Monday morning, look at the list for fifteen minutes. What's due this week? What's coming in the next month? Who can help?

Hand off what you can. You must sign your own filing papers. You don't have to fold every brochure. A good volunteer lead can own whole sections of this list.

Do the legal items first. When time is short, the filing, finance and disclosure items come before everything else. A missed report can follow you longer than a missed parade.

When you're ready, open the operations checklist tool and check off what you've already done. Most people are further along than they think.

Common questions

When should I start working through the checklist?

Start the deciding and qualifying items as soon as you're seriously considering a run, ideally months before the filing period opens. The later phases build on them, and filing deadlines don't move for anyone.

Do I have to do every item on the list?

No. The legal and filing items are required where your state says so. The outreach items are the ones most small campaigns find worth doing, and you can scale them to your time and budget.

Can I track my progress online?

Yes. The free operations checklist tool on this site lets you check off tasks, and your progress saves in your own browser. A printable version is in the starter kit.

Sources

Rules change. Always confirm with your own state and local election offices.