Yesterday, July 23, 2024, at 4 pm, the deadline passed for candidates for school boards to file. Barring withdrawals, which candidates can do until Friday, July 25 by 4 pm, the filed candidates are set. Hopefully there is a healthy field of quality candidates for the electorate to pick from. However, in some cases, there are fewer filed candidates than there are seats up for election. While these situations are concerning, they are fully addressable.  

Although the deadline for filing has passed, the window for write-in candidates does not close until October 25, 2024, at 4 pm. Districts that do not have a full slate to fill seats in the election can consider recruitment from the community to fill their open seats this way. Crucially, if you are recruiting write-in candidates, they must file a Declaration of Intent with the appropriate elections official or any ballots cast for them will not count. 

In the event a district ends up without a full complement of candidates to fill all open seats, even with write-in candidates, the district would then find itself in a position of having to appoint a member once the new board is seated on January 1.  

If you have any questions about this or other legal issues, please contact our Legal Services Department.