Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Filing Fees Are Set By Area Democrats

Election time is just around the corner, and those planning to seek public office should know the filing dates.

According to Dr. Dave Luck, chairman of the Clark County Democratic Central Committee, the filing period will be from noon March 21 through noon April 4.

Filing fees, for the most part, remain unchanged. The exception is for municipal judge, with the filing fee being raised to $1,200.

This was done, Luck said, because the salary for the municipal judge was raised. All filing fees, he added, are based on a percentage of the salary the office pays.

Candidates for county judge will have to pay $875 each, as do those seeking the job of Clark County Sheriff.

All offices in the courthouse, County Clerk, County Treasurer, Circuit Clerk and County Assessor, will have filing fees of $725.

The filing fee for the county coroner will be $225, while all mayors and constables will be required to pay $50 to seek office.

Anyone running for the office of Gurdon City Marshal will have to pay 2.5 percent of the position's annual salary as the filing fee.

Luck said there is no filing fee for the office of city recorder/treasurer because most running for this post are non-partisan.

While some of the local filing fees may appear to be expensive, they aren't when compared to those on the state and federal level.

Starting with the fee for state representative, those candidates must pay $1,300 to run.

Anyone running for the office of state senator or prosecuting attorney faces a filing fee of $2,300.

Candidates for circuit judge and circuit/chancery judge have fees of $3,000.

Hopefuls for chancery judge have a filing fee of $4,000.

Those running for U.S. Congress have to come up with $5,300 to file, while candidates for the Arkansas Court of Appeals and Arkansas Supreme Court have filing fees of $8,300.

Interestingly, it costs less to file as a candidate for President of the United States and it does for congress or the state's highest courts. Presidential candidates have a filing fee of $5,000.

The Democratic Primary Election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 23, with any runoff elections set for Tuesday, June 9.