City, county, state and federal races to be on June ballot

Primaries for congressional and statewide offices and local elections will be held on June 8 when Nevada County’s estimated 62,000 registered voters will be looking at a long list of candidates.

It seems there’s always another election just around the corner in California, which is the case in this year of voter discontent.

 Primaries for congressional and statewide offices and local elections will be held on June 8 when Nevada County’s estimated 62,000 registered voters will be looking at a long list of candidates.

 In Nevada City, City Council seats now held by Barbara Coffman and Sally Harris will be on the ballot.

 Harris announced Thursday, Feb. 4, that she is running for re-election. Coffman's plan haven't been made public.

Coffman was elected to the council in 2006. Harris, who was first elected to the council in 2004, is finishing the term of Sheila Stein, who resigned in 2008 from her first term in office.

 Nevada City Deputy City Clerk Corey Shaver says city council candidates can file to run from Feb. 16 to March 12 unless an incumbent decides not to seek re-election. The filing period is then extended to March 17.

 In order to run for a four-year term as a city councilor, a candidate needs to submit a petition signed by at least 20 registered Nevada City voters and live in a three-digit address, Shaver said.

 The June ballot also will feature a number of county races and primary races for state senate, state assembly, congress, U.S. senate and governor.

 At the county level, seats now held by Nevada County Supervisors Hank Weston of Penn Valley and John Spencer of Grass Valley will be on the ballot. Both are seeking re-election.

 In addition, voters will decide on the races for district attorney, sheriff, treasurer/tax collector, auditor-controller, clerk-recorder/registrar, assessor, superior court judge, and superintendent of schools.

 The primary races in June include Tom McClintock’s Fourth Congressional District seat, Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat, Sam Aanestad’s state Senate seat and Dan Logue’s Assembly seat.

 McClintock and Logue are Republicans who are serving their first terms. Aanestad of Grass Valley is running to be the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor after being termed out of his senate seat. Boxer is a Democrat from Marin County who first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992.

 McClintock has one announced opponent in the Republican primary. Michael Babich, a 54-year-old businessman from Auburn, threw his hat into the Fourth Congressional District ring in the last week in January. He was a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve where he served for 30 years and describes himself as an “open-minded conservative,” according to the Auburn Journal.

 The general election for those races will be in November.

 Those interested in running for county offices still have plenty of time to become a candidate. According to the Nevada County elections office, candidates can collect signatures on petitions instead of paying filing fees that depending upon the office can be as much as $1,000 or more.

 Candidates have from Feb. 16 to March 12 to turn in the petitions or pay the filing fee to run for an office.

Here is a look at candidates for county offices:

 Former Nevada County Supervisor Sue Horne and Jim Blashford are running for county assessor. The incumbent, Dale Flippen, is not seeking re-election.

 Incumbent Greg Diaz and Barry Pruett, who is a member of the Tea Party, are vying for the clerk-recorder/registrar’s office, which handles elections.

 Tina Vernon, an analyst for the Nevada County Executive Office, has announced she is running for treasurer/tax collector. Darlene Woo, a finance officer with the Nevada County Probation Department, has taken out papers to run for the position. Auditor-Controller Marcia Salter became the interim treasurer/tax collector after longtime incumbent Chris Dabis retired on Dec. 30.

 Salter is seeking re-election to the auditor-controller’s office. Other incumbents who are running are Sheriff Keith Royal, District Attorney Cliff Newell, Superintendent of Schools Holly Hermansen and Superior Court Judge Candace Heidelberger.

 No candidates have announced or picked up papers to challenge county supervisors Weston and Spencer.

Deadlines for voters:

According to the election’s office, there are approximately 62,000 registered voters and 44,000 of them vote by mail. According to the candidate handbook, here are deadlines for voters to know:

May 10 is the last day to register to vote and be eligible to receive election materials like the voter information pamphlet.

May 10 to June 1 is when you can apply to vote by mail if already aren’t doing that.

May 24 is the last day to register to vote.

June 8 is Election Day. The election’s office will accept mail ballots until 8 p.m.