My journal about this process

129 days to primary election on June 2

283 days to general election on November 3

What steps have I taken so far?

My first step was asking a lot of questions to the supervisors and the last two auditors. I pester them about the how and especially the why of a lot of things.

I also asked them a lot of questions about the process for running for office and what they did for their own campaigns.

I asked if political party really mattered. I was told, "Not really, in these small towns, it's more of a popularity contest. It might just depend on how many friends you have and who all knows your name."

I hope the people who know me, realize that my heart is in the right place and I just want to help. Sometimes people have gotten upset by some of the newspaper articles I have written. I don't really know if it's just an annoyance at the article or if they hold it against me personally.

I think the hardest thing so far has been choosing a political party. Over the years, I have been registered as both democrat and republican. Heck, I've been registered as three different things just since being back in Davis County.

I initially registered as independent or no party, whichever it was. Then I registered as republican so that I could vote for Zach Dunlavy for sheriff in the primary election. Then I registered as democrat because I wanted to work at the general election polls. They need so many of each party and they had a spot open for a democrat.

I was told that you have to pick one or the other so you can be in the primary election, and if you're not in the primary, you don't have a chance in the general election.

I went back and forth about it for months. I thought maybe I would run republican because most of the county is republican. That seemed like I was being insincere though. I'm really right in the middle. I like guns and gays!

After listening to our future governor, Rob Sand, speak, I decided that I am 51% democrat. He was in the same boat as me being independent but needing to pick a side. He said something along the lines of I'm with Jesus and Jesus was for the little guy and I think democrats are more so for the little guy.

So, that's how I chose my side. The fact of the matter is that I only chose out of necessity. Both sides have some good points and some bad points. At the end of the day, I'm running to be a public servant to my community, not a politician.

The auditor, Krisiti, told me what paperwork was required. So six months ago I printed it off. It's behind my legal pad on my clipboard that I use for interviews. I have been carrying it everywhere with me like a maniac for months! I just like being prepared.

I have an affidavit of candidacy where I put all my personal info and have it notarized. I also have a nomination petition where I need 50 signatures of people who support me as a candidate so I can be put on the ballot. While only 50 signatures are required, I was told to get extras in case some are thrown out. Each one is checked to confirm they are a registered voter in Davis County.

I also looked into the past supervisors. I discovered that there has only been one woman supervisor in Davis County--JoElla Cossel. I think it's much better to have both masculine and feminine energy working together especially when representing a community of both.

I would never say to vote for me just because I'm a woman, that is it's own kind of sexist,  but if you like me and you like the other guy the same, I would ask that you vote for me just because I'll stir up the good ole boys club.

Not to mention that office needs to be organized. As I sit there each Monday, I look around at the shelves and cabinets and plan how I'll spruce things up when I get to the other side of those desks.

Four months ago I got online and started pricing yard signs. Of the people I spoke with, one said they bought 50 signs and one bought 200 signs. They each also had a few 4x8 signs but one bought them and the other made them. I decided I would buy 100 signs and make my big signs.

I was advised to keep a spreadsheet of what addresses my signs were at. I will have to put them out before the primary. If I win the primary, I have to pick up the signs and hold onto them until it's time to put them back out for the general election.

There were more decisions than I expected just for signs--what size, how thick, paper or plastic, one or two sided, grommets or not, buy the metal stands together or separate, etc.

I made my decisions and then made a template online that would be saved in my account until I was ready to order. I don't want to order until my nomination paperwork is turned in and accepted.

I guess things really became official on January 19th. I was at the supervisor's meeting and I asked if everyone was going to sign my nomination papers. Kristi, the auditor, said she would. When I spoke I meant in the future but as soon as she said yes, I whipped out my form from the back of my clipboard! I just couldn't help myself.

Needless to say, the supervisors didn't snatch it out of my hands. Ha! I asked if they wanted to sign or if that would be a conflict of interests. The two that were present just kinda shrugged and made some noises. I assured them that it was fine and no hard feelings.

I don't believe it would be a conflict of interests at all as long as they were willing to sign any candidate's paper who asked. I get it though.

Since I had already started, as I was leaving the courthouse, I popped in to see my gals in the recorder's officer and my buddy Mike in the treasurer's office.

Mike had his nomination papers on a clipboard by his desk too! I signed his and he signed mine. He told me that I can't put signs between the sidewalk and the road or in the rightaway out in the county. Good to know because I didn't know. He told me to look up the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. That gives info about what you can and can't do. Also very helpful because I didn't know that existed.

I asked Mike how many signatures he got when he started. He said around 100. Holy cow. I know you have to get extras but I figured I would get 60. I honestly still think 60 would be enough but I can't help but make things more difficult for myself. Now I just have to get 100. I just do. I figure it's good if for no other reason than that means I have talked to 100 hundred people face to face.

When I was asking my coworkers for signatures in my office the next day, my boss, Karen, refused to sign as well. Ha! She said she didn't think it was appropriate since she's the owner of the newspaper. I get it. People are trying to do what they think is right.

My affidavit needed to be notarized so I had my other coworker whip out her stamp and make me official. She also signed my petition.

I told a few people in 2024 that I was planning to run. I publicly announced it for the first time on January 20th. I attended the Bloomfield Main Street Board Meeting as part of my supervisor apprenticeship. (I've been going to meetings and asking questions for over a year so I consider myself a supervisor's apprentice.)

The Main Street director asked if I was going to be recording. I told the group that I wasn't actually there on behalf of the newspaper. I was running for supervisor and attending the meeting in that capacity. Of course that being said, I went ahead and recorded while I was there in case there happened to be something that would make a good story. There wasn't.

Since then, I've been carrying my clipboard everywhere I go. I pounced on four tables last night when my friend and I had dinner in a restaurant.

Today my son Tyler signed my petition. That made me feel really proud and happy. I was working the election two years ago when he voted for president for the first time. Now in a few months, he'll be voting for me.

I reached out to someone who recently ran for office. I learned from my ethics research that if you take donations or spend over $1000 of your own money, you're supposed to register with the state and do some financial record keeping.

I feel bad even thinking about asking for donations but those signs and printed materials are pretty expensive. As a friend put it, "You shouldn't have to be independently wealthy to run for office."

Just the thought of setting all that stuff up makes me want to spend my own $900 and avoid the extra hassle. That's just the fear of doing something new all by yourself for the first time.

That's not how things get done which is why I reached out to the person who recently did all that. Part of being a leader is asking for guidance when needed and then in turn being able to give it to others who come after you.

That's part of the reason for these updates I'm going to do. I want to set an example and provide a template for those who run after me as well for any woman running for anything in a male dominated sector.

I think it also humanizes me. I won't have a chance to talk to every single person but maybe I can connect with people through my stories.

Once elected, I plan to write a weekly or monthly update talking about what I've been learning, any training I do, and what it's really like to look at budgets and vote on things. I also think it'll be kind of neat to keep statistics on public contact. I plan to record how many phone calls I get each week about road complaints and people letting their dogs poop in the courtyard. I want to show the public what goes on behind the scenes.

So this is it. I'm doing the thing. I'm going to keep asking questions and try to campaign to the best of my ability in Bloomfield, Iowa.

According to World Population Review:

Bloomfield has an estimated 2026 population of 2,773.

Davis County's estimated 2026 population is 9,249.

125 days to primary election on June 2

279 days to general election on November 3

I'm at 48 signatures so far. I've found it goes faster if I can insert myself into a herd of people at something like a meeting or sporting event!

I met with Chris Ball who recently ran for mayor. I was unsure about what I needed to do to be a legal beagle for donations.

Chris and I reserved a room at the library where he could hook his computer up to the TV and show me all the things. I love our library.

I need to open a bank account first and foremost. Then I can get my campaign registered. Just the thought of this fills me with dread. Maybe I should just plan to spend a $1000 that I don't have on signs and advertising.

Nope, that's the scaredy cat way. It's funny how certain things just rub you the wrong way and you want to avoid it like the plague. It's like irrational anxiety. I've set up all kinds of bank accounts over the years and registered for online accounts numerous times. This is not anything to be afraid of. I just dread it though.

Chris recommended creating a website. He said he was surprised by how much his was viewed. For some, that would cause anxiety, but I banged out a landing page and registered for a domain while sitting in the window box at the laundry mat. Ha! We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

Chris said he wished that he had made a QR code to put on his signs. You don't have to tell me twice. Funny enough I made 3 QR codes today for the first time ever for some other organization I'm part of.

Maybe one of the best things he shared was where he got his signs. I researched sign prices and decided on some but he out-researched me and found a better deal. Whew. He also said I could have his wire sign holders so I don't have to buy them! That is such a huge favor. I definitely plan to volunteer the use of them to someone else who comes after me. Pay it forward!

So now I've got my next couple of things to work on over the next week. I'm glad I started early.

122 days to primary election on June 2

276 days to general election on November 3

I have 64 signatures. I think I could safely stop here but I won't! More is my favorite amount of anything. Besides, the more I get, the more people I have spoken to.

I tried to tackle the bank account process today. I started by getting an EIN number on the IRS website. I obviously opted to get it online immediately. I printed the letter and moved on to the next task.

A screen popped up telling me I had to fill out and mail in a 8453-X (Political Organization Declaration for Electronic Filing of Notice of Section 527 Status).

Whatever that means, I did it.

I filled out the DR-1 form on the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board's Web Reporting System. That also gets me set up with an online reporting account.

When Chris showed me how he did it, he said that he initially only put his bank name and address in the form because he didn't have a bank account number yet. He said they emailed him and let him know he needed the account number.

He also told me the bank wasn't sure what kind of account he needed so he showed them the DR-1 form.

It reassured me that he had made mistakes and that they were easily corrected.

I was worried about the bank not knowing what account I would need so I wanted that DR-1 form. I filled out all the info and just put the bank name and address just like Chris did.

Well, it didn't give me a form to print. It said it must be reviewed. After it's reviewed, I can then log on to the web reporting system.

I assume that approval will come with an email letting me know I didn't enter the account number. I'm prepared for that at least.

I went to the bank and explained what I needed. The employee didn't like my short form EIN letter. She has the ability to check the system for EIN numbers though so that didn't seem to matter.

However, since I had just applied, it didn't show up yet.

She also told me that I need an article of incorporation document that explains what my organization is and what it does.

I'm pretty sure that DR-1 form will do that.

She told me to get something that verifies my organization and give the EIN number time to update in the system.

Zero bank accounts were set up today.

Back at home, I created an outline of every single thing I'm doing for this campaign. It's pretty good if I do say so myself, which I do. I can't wait to give it to someone down the road who is running for office for the first time.

Then I dived back into my website domain drama. I bought one the other day but I couldn't get it linked to my website. It's better to have a proper domain name than use that really long thing Google Sites gives you.

I had returned that first domain name, so to speak, so I bought another one today for about $12 for the year. It took me a while but through the help of ChatGPT and some Google searches, I figured out how to link the domain to the website. I was deep into the "Advanced DNS settings." I still don't know what that means but I know how to make it work.

www.HinesForSupervisor .com now exists. (Unlike the Kimra Hines For Supervisor Committee bank account I need. Ha! ) You do have to type in the www part though. I never type that when searching a website so I don't know if there's something else I can do so it pops up without the www or not.

Then I unintentionally found myself looking at an analytics page that didn't have any information because my website wasn't linked to it. I feel like Google could just automatically do that for me if it wanted to.

Chris talked about seeing how many people were looking at his website which would be nice so I was knee deep in Google analytics searches. I was adding tags and embedding code like nobody's business.

While I was at it, I set up analytics for my Kritter Kim website. That'll be super cool to see how many people visit that. Both websites have multiple web pages and for whatever reason and a solid hour of trying, I could not get one page on my kritter site to tag or embed or whatever so that I can get analytics on it...one page only, I have no idea why.

I made three sign options using the website Chris had recommended which did turn out to be cheaper than the one I was going to use. One color is cheaper but it doesn't look as good. The one with all colors and my picture looks great but it's expensive. I'm wanting to do the one that is red and blue but I want a QR code on it and the QR code is black so I don't know if they can make it blue or if I have to pay for a three color sign.

The sign website let me make the QR code on there which I thought was best since that kinda makes them responsible for it working properly.

Before I realized I could make the QR code there, I made one on a site that led me to some new information. Apparently there are dynamic and static QR codes. Static work forever and dynamic can stop working. Lots of sites give you dynamic codes so that they can keep charging you to keep the codes working. Not today Satan!!

I had just made some QR codes the other day for another organization. This new knowledge sent me back to the drawing board for those because of course they were dynamic. I ended up making new QR codes through Canva which was free.

This was all kind of a lot today. I'm really proud of myself though. I learned a lot of things that I had no intention of learning.

I had talked with Karen, my boss at the newspaper, about how I felt anxious about setting up the accounts and paperwork to be able to accept donations. I told her I had considered not doing it but that's not how I roll. She agreed and said that you have to be able to do things like that if you expect to be in a leadership position. Makes sense to me.

Now that I've started the process, I don't feel anxious anymore. Now I'm just annoyed that it couldn't all be completed today and very well may take some trial and error to get through it all.

I'm feeling good in general about where I am with all this campaign stuff. I'm glad to be getting things done early so I can be ready when the bat jobs start rolling in this spring.

87 days to primary election on June 2

207 days to general election on November 3

I was the first one to turn in my nomination papers at 8:30 in the morning on day one of filing eligibility. I had a couple of sickly weeks so I gave up on getting an even 100 signatures. I ended up with 94.

I have already started receiving complaints for local folks. I record the person’s contact info and put everything on a list. Elected or not, I will get it addressed eventually.

Our last sheriff and auditor both wrote long spiels that were published in the newspaper endorsing who they thought should replace them. I asked Ron Bride who is the retiring supervisor if he was planning to endorse anyone to take his position. All three supervisors laughed and Ron politely said no. I hadn’t expected him too but I volunteered myself as tribute just in case. Ha!

Those supervisors love me whether they choose to admit it or not. I announced to them that I already have our group Halloween costume picked out for next year–peas. We’re going to be three peas in a pod! I figure by the time they’ve spent 10 months with me on the other side of the desk, they’ll be ready to embrace their fate.

I updated my website with one of those handy dandy forms where people can contact me directly. No one has. Ha! 

I created a Stripe account so that I can take campaign donations via credit card. I added the link to my Facebook page and website. 

I felt embarrassed posting my plea for donations. Like I felt kind of ashamed as if I’m too poor to pay for my own stuff. It was pointed out to me that people shouldn’t have to be independently wealthy to run for office. That made me feel a little better. This is a hard time of year for me because I don’t have trapping jobs during the winter. 

It has been really heart warming to see who donated. Some folks because they like me and have no skin in the Davis County game and some that don’t really know me well at all but upon investigation, think I would be the best candidate for Davis County.

I listened to a candidate speak who was running for state office. He said he was advised that TV advertising was where he should focus most of his money at that level. I hadn’t even thought about that. I’m going to run an ad on cable. The newspaper actually runs the local cable update channel. For $55 a month I can put an ad on there (writing in a box just like a newspaper ad not a commercial). 

Upon talking to one person who ran for office, I thought I needed to order at least 300 signs. Then I spoke to several other people who ran and none of them got more than 150. No one else felt like the amount they got wasn't enough. So I’ve decided to dial my number back to either 100 or 150 plus make four big signs out of plywood. 

I have opted to buy signs from an online retailer. A local person reached out to me and gave me a quote. It was $80 per 100 more than the online retailer. I feel bad going online especially when it’s someone I know and interact with regularly. When I was thinking about 300, that’s an extra $240. If I buy 150, that savings will literally pay for the two months of cable advertising that I need. It’s a hard decision to make and makes me feel guilty.

That’s what the county does though. They get three bids and then go with the cheapest one whether it’s a local business or not. For me, I suppose it boils down to the difference, $20 difference wouldn’t be a big deal but $120 makes me put on the brakes especially since I’m literally using donated money. I feel obligated to make it go as far as possible.

My biggest worry was setting up the bank account and online account with the ethics board to be able to take donations. As it turned out, what I was most fearful of did happen. The bank wouldn’t accept what I thought I needed to give them. I also discovered that a form I mailed in to the IRS was no longer valid and needed to be filled out online, but I couldn’t fill it out online without login credentials that I did not have.

This situation helped me understand the anxiety I was having about doing these two things though. I was afraid of not doing something correctly and then not knowing how to fix it and then somehow getting in trouble for it with the ethics committee. That’s my perfectionist issues coming to the surface.

It took four phone calls over two days to the IRS and about an hour on hold to learn that I was not required to fill out the form at all regardless of whether it was paper or online. Whew. That was such a relief. So I don't have to worry about the IRS coming after me for taxes because I didn’t do the form right.

Then the banker called me back after she went higher up to get information about what documents I needed and discovered that the documents I had were just fine. Whew. I was able to open the account.

It’s silly to think my dread was from the irrational fear that I would be unable to find a solution if I messed something up. There’s always a solution and with enough questions to enough people, it can be found.

I have wanted to go on a mission trip my entire life. I finally found the one I want to go on. They go in January each year. I was going to sign up for next year but I realized that would be right as I’m taking office which would be a terrible time to take 10 days off. So in 2028 I’m going to Nicaragua. I’m literally planning my life around being a supervisor.