Regardless of who wins, the Clark County Council will welcome two new members come January. Current District 3 Councilor Karen Bowerman and District 4 Councilor Gary Medvigy announced in May they would not seek reelection.
Tuesday night’s election results, which are just the first round of results, showed nearly 200,000 ballots tallied with another 70,000 ballots left to be counted. With more than 345,000 registered voters in the county and an expected turnout of around 85 percent, it is too early to declare a winner in many races. Final election results will be certified on Nov. 26.
District 3
Vying for the District 3 seat is Chuck Keplar, a paraeducator with Evergreen Public Schools and Wil Fuentes, a nonprofit program manager at Fourth Plain Forward. Neither has been elected to office previously, although Keplar did run for a school board seat in 2023.
The first round of election results showed Fuentes with 14,955 votes, or 52.23 percent of ballots cast, to Keplar’s 13,471 or 47.05 percent of ballots cast.
“I’m thrilled. I think the community has recognized the importance of selecting a candidate that cares about community, that knows what they’re doing and has a vision,” Fuentes said Tuesday night.
Only voters in District 3 were eligible to vote in that race.
District 4
Facing off for the District 4 seat is local farmer Joe Zimmerman and Matt Little, a lobbyist with Ducks Unlimited and executive director for the World Salmon Council. Neither candidate has served in an elected office previously, although Little ran for the same council seat in 2020
Zimmerman and Little were nearly tied in Tuesday’s results with Zimmerman at 17,532 votes, or 49.75 percent to Little’s 17,466 votes or 49.56 percent. A machine recount seems likely in the race because one is required when the difference between candidates is less than 2,000 votes and less than ½ of 1 percent of the total number of votes cast.
“I’m barely winning by the skin of my teeth,” Zimmerman said. “I’ve never run before so I don’t even know what to expect. I’m excited I’m in the lead but I know that could bleed off in the next day or two.”
“It’s so close. It’s unbelievable,” Little said Tuesday evening. “I’m super excited to see so many people voting.”
Only voters living in District 4 cast votes in the race.
Amendments
Clark County voters had three county charter amendments to weigh in on this year.
Tuesday’s election results show Amendment 16 with 118,549 votes in favor, or 64.06 percent, to 66,508 votes against, or 35.94 percent of votes cast. The measure would increase the salary for the Clark County sheriff, currently John Horch, putting the sheriff’s salary at 8 percent higher than the highest step of the undersheriff’s salary range. The amendment would set the sheriff’s salary at $19,764 per month or $237,168 per year.
Early results show Amendment 17 with 98,630 votes in favor, or 55.20 percent, to 80,046 votes against, or 44.80 percent of ballots cast.
Proposed by Auditor Greg Kimsey and placed on the ballot by the council, the measure is intended to improve the county’s redistricting process.
If it passes, the amendment will require the county council to appoint a redistricting master to create the map, along with specifying that person must be an employee in the Geographic Information Systems department with the required skills. Additionally, the redistricting committee would be increased from five members to seven and the county council would no longer be required to select committee members from a list provided by the local Republican and Democratic parties. To change the map created by the redistricting master would require a vote in favor by five committee members
Tuesday’s results show Amendment 18 with 88,056 votes in favor, or 50,42 percent of votes, and 86,595 votes against, or 49.58 percent.
This amendment would change the county’s initiative process by requiring petitioners to get the estimated costs or expenses of enacting the initiative from the county and include that information on the petition and ballot. That assessment would be done by the county budget office.
Additionally, the opinion issued by the prosecuting attorney’s office would be included on the petition and ballot. Signatures required for petitions that apply only to unincorporated areas of the county would be calculated using the same method as petitions for the entire county.
