Foothill resident Dr. Fred Simon's visage greets motorists entering Carson Valley from a billboard.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
Four years ago, the front hallway of the historic Douglas County Courthouse was filled with candidates eager to file for election.
On Monday, the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office will open its windows at 8 a.m. so candidates can make it official, as long as they bring their ID and filing fee in cash, certified check or cashier’s check.
Tahoe residents who want to file at the Stateline Office will have to make an appointment. Clerk-Treasurer Amy Burgans, who will herself be filing for election, said candidates should read through the county filing guide at govotedouglas.com and clicking on 2022 Elections. Filing
Carson Valley Republicans Sharla Hales and Doug Robbins are seeking the District 2 seat presently held by John Engels.
County commissioner is a partisan office, and due to Douglas County’s significant Republican majority, is essentially settled in the primary, which will be June 14.
Other countywide partisan offices include assessor, clerk-treasurer, district attorney and recorder. Recorder Karen Ellison has indicated she is not going to seek re-election. Sheriff is a nonpartisan office.
According to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, there are 40,546 active voters in Douglas County, of which 20,687 are Republicans.
The number of active Democrats was 8,347, while the number of active nonpartisan voters in the county was 8,554.
There are three school board seats on the ballot this year, with one open seat after District 7 trustee Ross Chichester is term-limited from his second Douglas County board.
Seats held by District 2 trustee Robbe Lehmann and District 6 trustee Heather Jackson are up for election this year. Lehmann’s district runs from Fredericksburg Road north along the Highway 88-395 corridor to the county line, with a bit of Minden.
Ruhenstroth resident Jackson, who was appointed last year to Tom Moore’s seat, represents most of eastern Douglas County, including Topaz Ranch Estates.
School board, the towns and districts are all nonpartisan seats. Any races that develop during filing for school board will only appear on the primary ballot if there are three or more candidates for one of the seats. Otherwise, those races will go to the general election.
Douglas County is home to two-dozen districts and towns with their own elected boards and tax rate.
While Gardnerville, Minden and Genoa are unincorporated towns that are advisory to the county, they all have their own elected boards.
The county’s largest community, the Gardnerville Ranchos, is governed by a nonpartisan district board, as are Kingsbury, Indian Hills, Topaz Ranch Estates and several districts at Lake Tahoe. The East Fork Fire Protection District, East Fork Swimming Pool District and the Minden-Gardnerville Sanitation District all three have nonpartisan boards and cover much of Douglas County outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Burgans said her office is recruiting paid election workers for both the primary and general elections.
Every active voter who hasn’t specifically opted out should receive a ballot in the mail. Forms to opt out of getting a mailed ballot are available at the courthouse.
For more information about registering or updating your voter information, visit https://registertovote.nv.gov
