Kootenai County Chief Deputy Clerk Pat Raffee says that so far, candidacy declaration filings have been sparse for the May 21 election.

With the filing deadline approaching Friday at 5 p.m., Raffee said there have been few challenger or incumbent filings for positions in 15 taxing districts throughout the county.

Taxing districts with open seats in the election include:

Consolidated Free Library District, three seats, 772-5612

Kootenai Hospital District, two seats, 666-3330

Eastside Highway District, one seat, 765-4714

Lakes Highway District, one seat, 772-7527

Worley Highway District, one seat, 664-0483

Coeur d'Alene School District, three seats, 664-8241

Kootenai Joint School District, three seats, 689-3631

Lakeland Joint School District, two seats, 687-0431

Plummer/Worley Joint School District, two seats, 686-1621

Post Falls School District, three seats, 773-1658

Alpine Meadows Water & Sewer, two seats, 659-2759

Bayview Water & Sewer District, one seat, 683-3948

Green Ferry Water & Sewer District, two seats, 769-4275

Kingston-Cataldo Sewer District, two seats, 682-3892

North Kootenai Water District, three seats, 687-6593

Interested parties should contact taxing districts for residency requirements. Potential candidates must start and end their paperwork with the taxing district office, though the County's Elections office verifies voter signatures on each filing. "The filing process has three steps; candidates should allow enough time so they can be certain their names will appear on the May 21 ballot," Raffee said.