Clark County Today is taking a brief look at each of the 10 amendments that the Clark County Charter Review Commission passed in hopes of bringing them to the November 2026 General Election

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

The Clark County Charter Review Commission, an elected body of 15 members, passed 10 amendments on July 8 in expectation of being placed on the November 2026 general election ballot.

Clark County Today is providing more context on each amendment in this series, including quotes from the sponsor of each amendment.

In this story, we look at 26-01, Clarifying Nonpartisan Office Elections.

It would require that if there are two or fewer candidates for a nonpartisan county executive or legislative office, they would go directly to the general election ballot. They would not appear on a primary ballot. This amendment passed 11-4.

“This proposal would reduce the number of offices appearing on Primary ballots and would reduce election costs charged to the county,” according to the charter review’s description. “In cases where there are two or fewer candidates for an office, the candidate(s) would automatically appear on the General Election ballot. The proposal retains election cycles to occur in even-numbered years.”

Cathie Garber, secretary of the commission, was the sponsor of this amendment.

“The purpose of a primary is to determine who moves to the general election. If there are only one or two candidates, a primary is not needed,” Garber said. “This charter amendment is one of only a few amendments that will save taxpayers money.”

She noted that if this change would have been in effect for the 2022 election, more than $75,000 would have been saved.

Furthermore, when a primary is not needed but candidates are placed on a ballot, it “amounts to taxpayer-funded campaigning,” Garber said.

“Candidates can begin campaigning and fundraising as soon as they file for office,” she said. “This amendment does not limit their ability to do so.”

From listening to public comment and talking to commissioners on the other side of this issue, some say there are unintended consequences to this amendment. It could give incumbents an unfair advantage. Challengers, for example, use the primary to get their name out to the public long before the general election.

Of note: The meeting on July 8 was to listen to public comment and to vote on the amendments. The sponsor of each amendment gave a brief argument for his or her amendment, but there were no discussions among the commissioners. Those discussions were made in previous Charter Review Commission meetings. In this meeting, it was just a yes or no vote on each amendment.