Beginning
Wednesday, January 7, Porter County residents living within town or city
limits can file for candidacies in the upcoming 2015 municipal elections.
Indiana Election
Division co-director Brad King said filing will begin Jan. 7 at county
election offices. Prospective candidates will have until noon on Friday,
Feb. 6 to turn in their CAN-42 forms declaring candidacy for municipal
primary nomination.
The towns of
Chesterton, Porter and Burns Harbor will each elect five town council
members and a town clerk-treasurer.
In Chesterton and
Porter all candidates must reside in the ward they intend to represent.
Beginning in 2015,
Burns Harbor will no longer have individual wards. All five seats on its
town council will be elected at-large. The change was approved by the town
in 2012 after the 2010 census data showed that the current three wards could
no longer be divided equally by population.
Candidates filing
their CAN-42 forms will claim affiliation with the Democratic or Republican
parties. Party affiliation is determined by which party a candidate voted
for in the last primary election that he or she voted in.
However, a
candidate not meeting this party affiliation requirement may run if the
county party chairperson indicates that the candidate is a member of the
party.
New this year for
municipal elections, along with a CAN-42 the candidate will also need to
complete and submit a CAN-12 form stating what their economic interests are.
Candidates are also
required to file campaign finance reports by certain dates during the year.