CANDIDATES & QUALIFYING INFORMATION 

QUALIFYING INFORMATION 

In order to qualify, a candidate must file a candidate qualifying form and either pay a qualifying fee or file a nominating petition.  An agent of a candidate may file the candidate's qualifying form by also filing an agent affidavit form.

Fees/Nominating Petitions to Qualify for Office 

Download this document – Z-BB-Fees.pdf in Adobe PDF Format. Candidates may qualify for office by paying the State Fee (plus the State Central Committee Fee and Parish Executive Committee Fee, where applicable) OR by filing a Nominating Petition. Nominating petition forms are available at the parish Clerk of Court's office. Please note that the Revised Statute for each item is listed as a reference.

Qualifications of Candidates for Office 

Download this document – Qualifications.pdf in Adobe PDF Format to learn the required qualifications needed to run for office.   For Orleans Parish, select this document - Orleans_Qualifications.pdf.

Notice of Candidacy Qualifying Form QF42 

Download the Notice of Candidacy Qualifying Form – QF42-rev-1-2005.pdf in Adobe PDF Format. This is the official qualifying form approved by the Attorney General and provided by the Secretary of State. It must be filed with the appropriate qualifying official. This Qualifying Form (QF-42) is subject to frequent change by the Legislature. The revision date is in the bottom right corner of the document. If you download this Qualifying Form from a web site other than the Secretary of State web site, please visit this page to check for an updated form. The latest approved form is dated 1/2005. DO NOT use an older form. Get the latest approved from here.

Agent Affidavit Form AA 

When an agent files a notice of candidacy on behalf of a candidate, the agent shall file with the qualifying official an Agent Affidavit Form AA (rev. July 2004) attesting that the agent has the authorization and consent of the candidate to file the notice. An agent who files a notice of candidacy without the authorization or consent of the candidate shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than 30 days, or both. Download the Agent Affidavit Form AA.

Notice of Withdrawal Form 

Use this form to withdraw as a candidate. Download the Notice of Withdrawal Form.

CANDIDATES 

Candidates Database 

The Candidate Database includes the names, addresses and party affiliations of persons who have qualified for or withdrawn from upcoming elections, or who ran for office in previous elections (to 1987). It also includes propositions and amendments. This database does not include vote totals. [NOTE: Database will be off-line on Thursday mornings from 3 to 5 AM.]

ZIP Files of All Candidates  

The ZIP Files of All Candidates are dBase III compatible files and contain the names of all candidates for an election. The files are compressed using the ZIP format and are named using the mm/dd/yy format. For example, Cand100403.zip, contains data for the October 4, 2003 election. See FILE TYPES for information about ZIP and DBF file types.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS, LOBBYISTS AND POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES

Campaign finance reports including reports from incumbent statewide elected officials for the 1995 General Election cycle are available for on-line viewing at The Louisiana Ethics Administration Program. In addition, lists of registered lobbyists and political action committees are available.

View actual financial disclosure reports filed by House, Senate and Presidential campaigns, Parties and PACs from 1993 to the present at the Federal Elections Commission web site. Reports are in HTML, Adobe PDF and scanned image formats. Also included: Recent Federal Election Results; Federal Election System; Electoral College; Voting Systems; Voting Machine Vendors; Combined Federal/State Disclosure Directory; Voter Registration and Turnout Statistics; plus a lot more.

The Federal Elections Commission had the following comments about financial disclosure reports:

"We currently scan all paper reports received at the Federal Election Commission. This includes reports filed by Campaigns for the House of Representatives and for President, along with reports by political party committees and political action committees who participate in Federal elections. Scanned images of reports filed with the Secretary of the Senate after May 15, 2000 are included here as well. The system now includes all reports scanned by the Commission covering 1993 through the present. Current reports are added to the system daily, as they are received and scanned here at the FEC. Remember, however, that scanning of House campaign reports began in May of 1996 and Senate campaign reports May 15, 2000. This means that reports received before these dates are not available on the system. If you attempt to retrieve any of these reports, the system will respond that the 'Image is not found'. Commission scanning actually began in 1993. Initially, we scanned reports filed by political action committees and party committees and campaign committees for Presidential candidates. We expanded our scanning in May of 1996 to include campaigns for the House of Representatives."