Sharing the challenge of being Unaffiliated

I am not whining or complaining. I think it is worth sharing what I am experiencing. I want to serve as a county commissioner. I am wanting to file for the election. The filing period is December 4-15th. I went in (with my filing fee) to file and was told I could not because I am not a member of one of the established parties. I am Unaffiliated. I was told I need to first get 2700 petition signatures and they must be certified, then I can file. I have until March 5 at noon to submit and have certified the 2700 signatures. But I thought the filing period ends December 15th? Then I asked if I turn in petitions, how long do I need to wait to find out if the signatures are certifed? I was told they have until 15 days after the Canvas date to certify the signatures. I asked when the Canvas date was. They said 15 days after the primary election on March 5. Does anything seem strange about this? I will continue to work even harder to beat this ridiculous system. Stay tuned.