Today is the day! As of this morning, March 7th, our local Election 2022 begins with the Open Filing period now thru March 17th.
Both the Mayor’s seat as well as two City Council seats are up for election. Our current Mayor Kiernan McManus has announced he plans to run for re-election and also soon-to-retire Nevada State Senator Dr. Joe Hardy shared with us a few months ago HERE, that he also plans to seek that seat.
For City Council we have two seats up, currently held by Claudia Bridges and James Howard Adams. Councilwoman Bridges has announced she will not seek re-election, however Councilman Adams has said he will. We’ve also seen several other folks around town that we’ve heard of or met in person who are also considering tossing their hats into the ring. Details on the entire process and filing instructions can be found on the City’s web site HERE.
The General Election, which is now in sync with our State and National election cycles, will be held November 8th, 2022. Depending upon the number of candidates we have, we may or may not have a Primary Election on June 14th. The rules on that are from the City Charter, as follows:
7. A primary municipal election must not be held if no more than double the number of Council Members to be elected file as candidates. A primary municipal election must not be held for the office of Mayor if no more than two candidates file for that position. The primary municipal election must be held for the purpose of eliminating candidates in excess of a figure double the number of Council Members to be elected. (Add. 17; Amd. 1; 11-5-1996)
8. If, in the primary municipal election, a candidate receives votes equal to a majority of voters casting ballots in that election, he or she shall be considered elected to one of the vacancies and his or her name shall not be placed on the ballot for the general municipal election. (Add. 10; Amd. 7; 6-2-1981)
In plain English what that means is this – in order to have a Primary Election there need to be:
- 3 or more Candidates who file to run for Mayor
- 5 or more Candidates who file to run for the two open City Council seats
Furthermore, these two races are treated separately – so we could end of having a Primary for City Council but not for the Mayor’s race, or visa-versa.
We will receive updates daily from the City Clerks office, but we’re going to hold off on announcing for you the entire field until the morning of the 18th after filing has closed. Then we’ll introduce you to all of your candidates at once and be able to share definitively at that time whether or not a Primary Election will also be held.
We hope for a lively field again of citizen candidates who are interested in serving our community in what we know are much needed and important responsibilities. Thank you in advance to all who step up to run!
