There’s a lot more to running for office than knocking on doors and kissing babies.

About 35 people interested in running for office got pointers Wednesday from five officeholders as well as Porter County Clerk Jessica Bailey and Gina Avila, community development educator with Purdue Extension.

“We have a very big ballot in 2026,” Bailey said. “We had to make the print real small to put everyone up there.” Even then, the list of offices was too big to fit on a single PowerPoint slide.

Bailey walked the class through the flurry of forms and deadlines candidates and political committees must deal with.

The Porter County elections office, which reopened Wednesday at 155 Franklin St. in Valparaiso after having to move out earlier this year because of water damage, will start allowing Repub

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