Montana Politicians Can File to Run For Office This Week

Election season for many Montana candidates will officially begin tomorrow, January 14 as Secretary of State Linda McCulloch opens her doors at 10 to accept filing paperwork for candidates. McCulloch says she will be busy all day, but that she enjoys it.

"It is a busy day, I'm looking so forward to it. It's the first day of candidate filing and so far the campaigns haven't started so everyone is friendly with everyone else. Democrats come in here, Republicans come in here, legislative candidates, statewide candidates... it's just a fun day."

McCulloch expects to see most of those who plan to run sign up on opening day and she also expects to see even more candidates than last year.

"Last cycle, in 2014, we had 71, but we had more than that in 2012, because statewides were up and all of that in 2012. People get lined up at 8, they want to be the first one to sign up, because the press is all here and there's a lot of coverage for that, it's just an exciting time."

Candidates who wish to file can do so from today through March 14th. Filing no longer requires a trip to Helena as applications can be completed online.