Precinct committee officers (PCOs), the basic building block for the political parties, will be elected as part of the statewide primary on Aug. 17.  Thanks to a streamlining bill that was passed at the request of the Secretary of State, the $1 filing fee is no longer required, and PCO candidates can file online.

The filings will be done with the County Auditor.  Before the law change, a single-county candidate could file in their home county or with the Secretary of State.  In the case of PCOs, hundreds of candidates were filing with the state and others were filing with their county, making it harder to track whether a competitor had filed against a candidate.  Now the filing with be with the person’s home county.  The bill also repealed the $1 filing fee, which actually cost some counties more to process than they got in revenue.  Other non-salaried offices also are exempt from the filing fee.

Precinct committee officers organize their local precinct for their party and serve as members of the legislative district and county organization. They help fill vacancies.