Lewiston candidates have until Aug. 20 to file for mayor, council and school-board races
Lewiston candidates seeking election as mayor, City Councilor or School Committee member must submit completed nomination papers to the City Clerk by 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, for the city’s 2026 municipal election.
The deadline is the next key step in the filing process for offices that will appear on the Tuesday, Nov. 3, municipal-election ballot. Nomination papers are available for the open offices, but the city’s materials do not yet establish a final list of filed candidates or ballot-qualified candidates.
Offices open for the November election
Voters will elect a mayor, City Council members in Wards 2, 4 and 6, and School Committee members in Wards 1, 3, 5 and 7.
The filing requirements differ by office. A mayoral candidate must submit between 100 and 200 signatures from qualified voters. Candidates for City Council and School Committee seats must submit between 50 and 100 signatures from qualified voters in the ward they seek to represent.
Those signature ranges are requirements for nomination papers, not a final determination that a candidate will appear on the ballot. Candidate qualifications and submitted signatures remain subject to city review, according to the city’s announcement of the filing process.
That distinction means the list of people who have taken out or filed papers should not be treated as a certified ballot list unless the City Clerk publishes a certified candidate list. Final filings will establish which candidates are in the running for each open office.
What the election will decide
The mayor, City Council and School Committee are two-year elected offices. Officials elected on Nov. 3 will begin their terms Jan. 4, 2027.
The election therefore will fill the citywide mayoral office as well as three council seats and four School Committee seats for the next two-year terms. The wards involved are set by the offices open this year; the city has not established whether every listed race will draw more than one candidate.
For prospective candidates, the immediate deadline is Aug. 20 at 4 p.m. Completed papers must be filed with the City Clerk by that time. For voters, Election Day is Nov. 3, 2026.
Absentee voting timeline
The city says absentee ballots will be available in early October. Voters who plan to vote absentee have until 4 p.m. Oct. 29 to order a ballot.
Those dates follow the candidate-filing deadline and precede the Nov. 3 election. The available city materials identify the election schedule and filing requirements, but do not name any candidates as qualified for the ballot.
Sources
- Nomination Papers for Municipal Office Available June 22, City of Lewiston, Maine
- Elections, City of Lewiston, Maine