Candidates starting to file for seats

Filings for the 2024 Primary Elections are currently underway.

Many candidates have already applied, however there remain many positions across Carbon County without any filings. The deadline to file for candidacy in all partisan and nonpartisan races is May 31.

Here are the current candidates for the 2024 Primary Election as of May 21.

For the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCC), three seats are open to be filled. Sue Jones and John Espy will be running for reelection. Their most recent terms on the commission started in 2020. In addition, Jimmy Hinkle and Gwynn Bartlett, the current Carbon County Clerk, are running to be commissioners. Bartlett has been county clerk since 2010.

Twenty seats are available for Republican Precinct Committeemen. Ron Platt has filed to run. In addition to the commissioner’s seat, Espy has filed for this position.

In addition, 20 seats are open for the Republican Precinct Committeewomen. Loretta J Hansen, Amanda Engstrom, Chia Valdez, and Mayvon Platt have filed for these seats.

No filings have been submitted to fill the 19 Democratic Precinct Committeeman seats, or the 19 Democratic Precinct Committeewomen seats.

No filings have been submitted to fill the two four-year terms on the Encampment Town Council.

Elk Mountain and Hanna additionally have no filings to the two four-year terms on their respective councils.

Medicine Bow has two filings for mayor, Troy Maddox Sr. and Justin George. For the Medicine Bow Council positions, two four-year terms and two two-year terms have vacancies. Kristi Wickizer has filed for a four-year term, and Trevor Strauch has filed for a two-year term. The remaining two positions have received no filings yet.

Riverside has two four-year vacancies and one two-year vacancy. Linda Brown has filed for a four-year term and Lisa Lorenz has filed for a two-year term. Both Lorenz and Brown currently serve on the council after having been appointed to the positions. The remaining seat has received no filings yet.

Saratoga has two four-year vacancies and one two-year vacancy. Per the Town of Saratoga, Valdez has filed for a term. She currently serves on the Saratoga Planning Commission. The other two positions have not yet had any filings.

At the state level, representative seats are available for State Senate District 11 and Wyoming House of Representatives Districts 15 and 47. These seats are representative of large portions of Carbon County. Only one filing has been submitted for any of these seats. This filing is for Bob Davis, who will be running for reelection of House of Representatives District 47.

To stay updated on the filings for the 2024 Primary Candidates, visit the home page of the BOCC website at https://www.carboncountywy.gov/.