The mayor and city council members serve two-year terms. Because council terms are staggered, there are three council member openings every November. This year, the mayor’s office will be open, too. The current incumbents who are up for reelection are mayor Sue Wylie and council members Amanda Forte, Erica Jones, and Al Avery.
We won’t know until the deadline whether some, all, or none of the incumbents are running again. But don’t be discouraged about competing with a current council member or the mayor. First, we don’t know which of them are running again or what office they might be running for, and they usually don’t announce one way or the other before the deadline to file paperwork. (Sometimes, it’s because they like to coordinate with each other about who should run for mayor, and that inside baseball is a bit unfair to people who aren’t in the know.) Second, most people don’t even know who the council members are. Third, even if we do know their names, there are many of us who will vote for an unknown person over someone who’s already there because we don’t like the way things are going and want a new direction. Lastly, don’t be fooled by the “mayor” title. The biggest difference between the mayor and a city council member is the mayor runs the meetings, has some ceremonial duties, may sign contracts with consent of the city council, and gets paid a flat annual fee (just under $4,000) for serving, regardless of meeting attendance. City council members get paid $25 per twice monthly meeting attended. Otherwise, the mayor is no different than a city council member and cannot act independently, even though some mayors have thought they have some kind of additional administrative authority.
So, you won’t get rich from these jobs, but you can influence the direction of city government.
OK, here come the disclaimers: neither my husband nor I are your lawyers, this post should not be construed as legal advice regarding Michigan election or campaign finance law, and you should confirm your understanding of the requirements with city officials, the Oakland County elections division, or your own attorney. In short, if you want legal advice, hire someone who wants to be your lawyer (and that isn’t us). Unfortunately, the city official who should be posting information – the clerk who likes to constantly complain that we don’t pay her enough – hasn’t posted anything helpful, including the filing deadline which we believe is July 21, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.
My husband put together a summary of things to consider if you want to run for city council or the mayor’s office. He’s gone through the process a few times. I’ve added some of my own comments as well. It can be confusing, and we hope this will clear up some of that confusion.
Here goes:
How to Run for City Council or Mayor
The requirements for all city offices are the same.
Qualifications:
You must be a resident of the City of the Village of Clarkston for at least one year before the election. You must also be a registered voter in the City of the Village of Clarkston, a U.S. citizen, and not be in default to the city (for example, for unpaid property taxes or water and sewer bills). Residents of Independence Township (who may have a Clarkston mailing address) are not qualified.
Nomination petitions and affidavit of identity:
You obtain nomination petition forms and the affidavit of identity from the Clarkston city clerk since they are not posted on the city’s website. FYI, once completed and filed, these are public documents.
Nomination petitions:
Valid signatures – You must obtain at least 20 and not more than 40 signatures on nominating petitions. The signers must be registered voters in the City of the Village of Clarkston. Signatures of nonresidents (for example, residents of Independence Township, who have a Clarkston mailing address) do not qualify. To verify someone’s registration, you may purchase a registered voter list from the Oakland County elections division. You may also ask for a voter list from the Clarkston city clerk if you have confidence that she maintains a proper list. Oakland County is usually quite prompt about providing lists and they are inexpensive. (The last one I purchased was $6.62.) You should consider getting extra signatures over the 20-signature minimum in case one of your signers is disqualified because you must have 20 valid signatures after review to qualify to be on the ballot. FYI, even if you know someone is a registered voter, that person’s signature may still be disqualified if they sign too many petitions during the election cycle, since signers are limited to the number of petitions as there are openings (here, three city council petitions and one mayoral petition). You won’t know how many petitions someone has signed unless they tell you.
The petition circulator must sign each petition after obtaining signatures. Only one circulator can sign each petition. That circulator must witness each signature on the petition. You can have multiple petition forms with different circulators. I’ve seen candidates for office enlist the help of friends and obtain all the necessary signatures in one day.
The Michigan Secretary of State has a publication titled “Circulating and Canvassing City/Township Petition Forms” here. That sets out details about obtaining valid signatures and errors that would result in invalidity of signatures. Note, however, that it is six years old and there have been changes in the law since then.
Affidavit of Identity:
There are strict requirements for filling out the affidavit of identity. Several candidates for Clarkston city council were disqualified in a recent election because of technical defects in their affidavits. If you have any questions, check with the Oakland County elections division since they’re the ones who will disqualify your affidavit if there’s a problem.
Filing:
File the nominating petitions and the affidavit of identity with the Clarkston city clerk. There is a filing deadline in the city charter (the date of the August primary), but you must not rely on that. State law superseded the filing deadline in the city charter. You cannot rely on the charter and, perhaps, not even on advice from the city clerk, since previous Clarkston clerks have given out incorrect information on the filing deadline and affected candidates were forced to run as write-ins. The best information my husband could find is that the deadline for filing petitions for a nonpartisan city office for the general election on November 3, 2026, is July 21, 2026, the 15th Tuesday before the general election. Filings must be made by 4:00 p.m. (Note that the Clarkston clerk’s office may be open after 4:00 p.m., but the 4:00 pm deadline is a state requirement that must be followed.) See the Secretary of State’s election deadline list here. This date should be confirmed with the Clarkston city clerk or the Oakland County elections division.
Campaign finance registration:
You must register a campaign committee with the Oakland County Clerk. This is a one-page form. If you don’t expect to receive or spend more than $1,000 on your campaign, there are no further filing requirements. For further reporting requirements, the Michigan Secretary of State Bureau of Elections has a campaign finance manual that has details about candidate committee registration and campaign spending regulations here.
Running as a Write-In Candidate:
If you miss the deadline or don’t want to get petition signatures, you can skip the petition requirements and run as a write-in candidate by filing a Write-In Candidate Declaration of Intent with the city clerk by the second Friday before the election – October 23, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. Write-in votes are not counted for candidates who do not file a declaration (otherwise Mickey Mouse could win an election if he received enough write-in votes). The disadvantage to running as a write-in candidate is your name won’t appear on the ballot. Running a write-in campaign is more of a challenge because voters need to know who you are, how to spell your name correctly, and how to properly vote for a write-in candidate (fill in the box in front of a blank line and correctly write in the name of the write-in candidate). It’s possible to win a write-in campaign (my husband did it for his first campaign), but it’s a lot easier to win an election if your name is on the ballot.
We hope this helps someone who may be hesitant to run because they don’t understand the mechanics.
Good luck!