Update: Official county election season opens

Election officials now say that on Monday a third candidate, John Green, officially filed a declaration of candidacy in the May 15 Primary election for Kootenai County Sheriff. 

Here is the original story posted on CDAPress.com on Monday:

 By 4:50 p.m. Monday, two candidates for Sheriff had filed their declarations, Keith Hutcheson and Ben Wolfinger.

 Dan Green filed for re-election to the District 3 County Commissioner seat on Monday, and a newcomer, Gerald Arno, filed a declaration of candidacy for the District 1 County Commissioner's position now held by Todd Tondee.

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The two-week candidate filing window is now open for the May 15 Primary election in Kootenai County.

Candidates seeking county level offices have through the 5 p.m. deadline on Friday March 9 to submit their declarations to the Kootenai County Elections office.

"The May 15 Primary election is the first in which the Elections office has to verify whether a candidate’s party affiliation on the declaration matches the same party they stated on their voter registration," said Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes, in a prepared statement sent out by the elections office this morning. “Candidates would be wise to revise their voter registration to identify their party affiliation before they complete the candidacy paperwork."

Party choices for candidates are Constitution, Democratic, Libertarian and Republican.

Offices open with two-year terms include:

County Commissioner District 1

Precinct Committeemen

Offices with four-year terms include:

County Commissioner District 3

County Prosecutor

County Sheriff

Candidates for county offices can choose whether to pay a $40 filing fee or include a petition of at least five and up to ten signatures of registered voters. Candidates for Precinct Committeemen are not required to pay the fee or to have registered voters sign a petition.

County candidate declarations & petitions are available online at www.kcgov.us/elections/candidate_downloads.asp.

Candidates are encouraged to bring their paperwork to the Kootenai County Elections office, 1808 N. Third in Coeur d’Alene, in advance of the final deadline of 5PM Friday, March 9.