St. Petersburg City Council will consider an ordinance that would shorten the qualifying period for local candidates and formally align the city’s 2026 election dates with the state’s election calendar.

The proposal would establish a one-week qualifying window for municipal candidates, mirroring the period used for state, county and federal elections. The city currently allows a two-week qualifying period beginning 11 weeks before the municipal Primary, along with a separate two-week “pre-qualifying” period.

Assistant City Attorney Brett Pettigrew wrote in a memo that the change is intended to give the City Clerk a full week to process candidate paperwork and meet ballot submission deadlines set by the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections (SOE). If approved, the new schedule would r

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