Become a Candidate

Candidates for office must meet certain qualifications and are required to file specific documents in order to qualify to appear on the ballot. These qualifications and requirements may vary slightly depending on whether the office sought is a Town of Culpeper or a Culpeper County office. Generally, all candidates must meet the following minimum qualifications:

• Be qualified to vote for and hold the office sought; and
• Be a resident of the Commonwealth Of Virginia for one year immediately preceding the election.

The following steps will help you through the candidate registration process:

All links will take you to the proper form directly on the State Board of Elections website. Links may be subject to change without our notice. Please contact us if you notice any errors.

1. Read the candidate bulletins for Local Office.

2. Complete the Certificate of Candidate Qualification form for the office sought. This form may be filed any time after January 1 of the election year and before the filing deadline of the election. It must be filed before a candidate can purchase a Registered Voter’s list from the State Board of Elections. Registered Voters lists CANNOT be obtained from the local Registrar.

3. Complete necessary:

4. Complete the Statement of Economic Interest form (link is to a fillable PDF).

5. Complete the Declaration of Candidacy form and Petition of Qualified Voter form to begin circulation. These forms must be filed together on or before the filing deadline for the election.

6. Submit all qualifying forms by deadline specified in the Candidate Bulletin to the Voter Registration Office

The prospective candidate is encouraged to file all related documents well before the deadline in the case that there are any obmissions or corrections that need to be addressed before the deadline. Specifically candidates filing candidate petitions should begin bringing those petitions to the Registrar’s Office for signature verification well in advance of the deadline.