Tag: Filing Deadlines

Click here (and bookmark) this incredibly valuable tool. It’s the Swing State Project’s sortable calendar of filing deadlines, primary dates, and, where applicable, runoff dates in all fifty states. Very useful – try it! (We’ll also permalink it in the right-hand sidebar under “SSP Resources.”)

I also wanted to take this opportunity to ask: which states have party conventions instead of or in addition to primaries, and how do they each work? I know, for instance, that Minnesota, Connecticut and Utah all have conventions, but their effects on ballot access differ somewhat from one another. Convention experts, please enlighten us.

Source: FEC (PDF)

The following states still have upcoming filing deadlines:

State	Deadline
Florida	5/2/2008
Georgia	5/2/2008
Michigan	5/13/2008
Nevada	5/16/2008
Connecticut	5/24/2008
Colorado	5/29/2008
Wyoming	5/30/2008
Alaska	6/2/2008
Massachusetts	6/3/2008
Arizona	6/4/2008
Oklahoma	6/4/2008
Washington	6/6/2008
Kansas	6/10/2008
New Hampshire	6/13/2008
Rhode Island	6/25/2008
Wisconsin	7/8/2008
Louisiana	7/11/2008
Minnesota	7/15/2008
New York	7/17/2008
Vermont	7/21/2008
Hawaii	7/22/2008
Delaware	7/25/2008

The thing is, at least on the federal level, there aren’t too many interesting seats left to fill. Also, it’s getting awfully late. Last cycle, almost every plausibly competitive challenger had filed by now. One of the few who did not, Dave Mejias in NY-03 on Long Island, gave Peter King his toughest re-election fight ever, but was hampered by his late start. Mejias didn’t get in until late May, but that was only because another candidate, David Denenberg, himself entered late and then dropped out just two days after announcing.

Disappointingly, NY-03 appears to be without a candidate deep into the season once more. I’d hate to give King a free ride. In any event, are there any other unfilled races in the states on this list that you think we might have any kind of shot at?

The federal filing deadline in Illinois, which has the earliest congressional primary in the nation, has already passed. The second-earliest primary is in Maryland, and their deadline is coming up in just a week. Here’s a look at the deadlines looming over the next couple months:

State	Deadline
Maryland	12/03/07
Texas	01/02/08
Ohio	01/04/08
Mississippi	01/11/08
West Virginia	01/26/08
Kentucky	01/29/08

You can find SSP’s complete, sortable calendar of all filing deadlines and primary dates at this link.

Follow this link for a cool new SSP feature: a sortable calendar containing congressional filing deadlines, primary dates and run-off dates. The best part is that you can click on the column headers to re-arrange the list. So you can view things alphabetically by state, or chronologically by filing deadline or primary date.

We’ve drawn on data collected by the FEC (PDF), so it should be accurate. But if you notice anything that looks amiss, kindly let us know. Please note, though, that the SSP calendar does not contain presidential data. The FEC file does have that information, and the Green Papers does an admirable job of keeping up-to-date with the constantly shifting presidential primary calendar.

In any event, please check out our calendar and let us know if it works for you. I’ve tried it successfully in both Firefox and IE for Windows, but not on a Mac. Just make sure you have JavaScript enabled. We’ll also place a permalink to it in our new “Resources” section on the right-hand sidebar. (Look just below the “About the Site” section.)  Thanks, and enjoy!

Click Column Headers to Sort

State	Filing Deadline	Primary	Run-Off
Alabama	04/04/08	06/03/08	07/15/08
Alaska	06/02/08	08/26/08
Arizona	06/04/08	09/02/08
Arkansas	03/10/08	05/20/08	06/10/08
California	03/07/08	06/03/08
Colorado	05/29/08	08/12/08
Connecticut †	05/24/08	08/12/08
Delaware	07/25/08	09/09/08
Florida	05/02/08	08/26/08
Georgia	05/02/08	07/15/08	08/05/08
Hawaii	07/22/08	09/20/08
Idaho	03/21/08	05/27/08
Illinois	11/05/07	02/05/08
Indiana	02/22/08	05/06/08
Iowa	03/14/08	06/03/08
Kansas	06/10/08	08/05/08
Kentucky	01/29/08	05/20/08
Louisiana *	07/11/08	10/04/08	11/04/08
Maine	03/15/08	06/10/08
Maryland	12/03/07	02/12/08
Massachusetts	06/03/08	09/16/08
Michigan	05/13/08	08/05/08
Minnesota ‡	07/15/08	09/09/08
Mississippi	01/11/08	03/11/08	04/01/08
Missouri	03/25/08	08/05/08
Montana	03/20/08	06/03/08
Nebraska	03/03/08	05/13/08
Nevada	05/16/08	08/12/08
New Hampshire	06/13/08	09/09/08
New Jersey	04/07/08	06/03/08
New Mexico	02/12/08	06/03/08
New York	07/10/08	09/09/08
North Carolina	02/29/08	05/06/08	06/24/08
North Dakota	04/11/08	06/10/08
Ohio	01/04/08	03/04/08
Oklahoma	06/04/08	07/29/08	08/26/08
Oregon	03/11/08	05/20/08
Pennsylvania	02/12/08	04/22/08
Rhode Island	06/25/08	09/09/08
South Carolina	03/31/08	06/10/08	06/24/08
South Dakota	03/25/08	06/03/08	06/17/08
Tennessee	04/03/08	08/07/08
Texas	01/02/08	03/04/08	04/08/08
Utah	03/17/08	06/24/08
Vermont	07/21/08	09/09/08
Virginia §	04/11/08	06/10/08
Washington	06/06/08	08/19/08
West Virginia	01/26/08	05/13/08
Wisconsin	07/08/08	09/09/08
Wyoming	05/30/08	08/19/08

† Connecticut’s filing deadline is fourteen days after state party conventions are held. The Democratic convention was held on May 10, 2008. The Connecticut Republican Party did not hold a statewide convention this year, but did hold individual congressional district conventions, also on May 10, 2008.

‡ Minnesota Democrats held individual congressional district conventions throughout April and May and held a state convention June 6-8, 2008. Traditionally, the party endorses candidates at these conventions. These endorsees become all-but-official nominees, usually rendering the primary a mere formality.

§ The Virginia Republican Party chose to nominate its Senate candidate via convention rather than via primary election.

* Due to Hurricane Gustav, Louisiana moved its primary from Sept. 6, 2008 to Oct. 4, 2008. Run-offs for LA-02 and LA-04 will be held on Nov. 4th and the general election for those races will be held on Dec. 6th. All other races will conduct normal general elections on Nov. 4th.

Note: Sorting by runoff date is not available.

Source: FEC.gov (PDF) (p. 3-4).