Iowa Code § 277.4 (2026)

1. Nomination papers for all candidates for election to office in each school district shall be filed with the secretary of the school board not more than seventy-one days nor less than forty-seven days before the election. Nomination petitions shall be filed not later than 5:00 p.m. on the last day for filing. If the school board secretary is not readily available during normal office hours, the secretary may designate a full-time employee of the school district who is ordinarily available to accept nomination papers under this section. On the final date for filing nomination papers the office of the school secretary shall remain open until 5:00 p.m.

2. a. Each candidate shall be nominated by petition. If the candidate is running for a seat in the district which is voted for at-large, the petition must be signed by the greater of at least ten eligible electors or a number of eligible electors equal in number to not less than one percent of the registered voters of the school district, which number need not be more than fifty. If the candidate is running for a seat which is voted for only by the voters of a \n Tue Dec 09 22:17:55 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 277 (27, 1) §277.4, SCHOOL ELECTIONS 2\n\ndirector district, the petition must be signed by the greater of at least ten eligible electors of the director district or a number of eligible electors equal in number to not less than one percent of the registered voters in the director district, which number need not be more than fifty.

b. Signers of nomination petitions shall include their addresses and the date of signing, and must reside in the same director district as the candidate if directors are elected by the voters of a director district, rather than at-large. A person may sign nomination petitions for more than one candidate for the same office, and the signature is not invalid solely because the person signed nomination petitions for one or more other candidates for the office. The petition shall be filed with the affidavit of the candidate being nominated, stating the candidate’s name, place of residence, that such person is a candidate and is eligible for the office the candidate seeks, and that if elected the candidate will qualify for the office. The affidavit shall also state that the candidate is aware that the candidate is disqualified from holding office if the candidate has been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime and the candidate’s rights have not been restored by the governor or by the president of the United States.

3. The secretary of the school board shall accept the petition for filing if on its face it appears to have the requisite number of signatures and if it is timely filed. The secretary of the school board shall note upon each petition and affidavit accepted for filing the date and time that the petition was filed. The secretary of the school board shall deliver all nomination petitions, together with the complete text of any public measure being submitted by the board to the electorate, to the county commissioner of elections on the day following the last day on which nomination petitions can be filed, and not later than 12:00 noon on that day.

4. Any person on whose behalf nomination petitions have been filed under this section may withdraw as a candidate by filing a signed statement to that effect with the secretary consistent with section 44.9. [S13, §2754; C24, §4201; C27, §4201, 4216-b4, -b5; C31, 35, §4216-c4; C39, §4216.04; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §277.4] 87 Acts, ch 221, §32; 88 Acts, ch 1119, §32; 89 Acts, ch 136, §63; 90 Acts, ch 1238, §35; 93 Acts, ch 143, §45; 94 Acts, ch 1180, §42; 95 Acts, ch 189, §19; 97 Acts, ch 170, §84; 98 Acts, ch 1052, §6; 2004 Acts, ch 1088, §1; 2010 Acts, ch 1033, §38; 2010 Acts, ch 1061, §180; 2017 Acts, ch 155, §38, 44; 2019 Acts, ch 148, §55; 2021 Acts, ch 147, §48, 54; 2024 Acts, ch 1146, §15 Referred to in §49.31, 275.25, 277.20, 279.6, 279.7 \n