The 2022 election season kicked off Monday with the first batch of political candidate filings.
On Monday afternoon, the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office posted the first 54 candidate filings for statewide, federal and judicial offices. There weren’t any big surprises on the first day of filings. Gov. Brad Little was not among the first group of candidates to file for the 2022 elections, though he is expected to run for re-election.
The candidate filing period opened at 8 a.m. Monday and closes at 5 p.m. on March 11. Although several candidates have already declared they are running for election in 2022, political candidates must fill out declaration of candidacy forms and submit them during the filing period in order for their names to appear on the ballot. Declaration of candidacy forms are available on the Idaho Secretary of State’s website.
The 2022 elections will shape Idaho government and politics for years to come. All of the statewide offices are up for election this year — including governor and lieutenant governor — along with all 105 seats in the Idaho Legislature.
This year, for the first time in 10 years, there will be new congressional and legislative boundaries in place thanks to the 2021 redistricting process, which the Idaho Supreme Court upheld earlier this month.
A handful of incumbents already filed for re-election Monday, including U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, State Controller Brandon Woolf and Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra.
A handful of legislators and legislative challengers also filed declarations of candidacy on Monday, although most legislators had yet to file as of the article’s publication Monday evening.
Republicans and Democratic candidates will compete in their parties’ primary elections on May 17. Winners of the May 17 party primaries will advance to the Nov. 8 general election. Independent and third party candidates will also appear on the Nov. 8 ballots.
In order to vote in the closed Republican primary election, voters must be registered and affiliated with the Republican Party. The Democratic Party’s primary election is open to all voters.
Voter registration and party affiliation forms are available on the Secretary of State’s website. Idahoans may also use the Secretary of State’s Office’s Vote Idaho website to check whether they are registered to vote.
A bill before the Idaho Legislature this year, House Bill 439, would make it so that unaffiliated voters can no longer affiliate with a political party at the polls on the day of the primary election. If the bill is signed into law, the deadline for an unaffiliated voter to affiliate would be March 11 this year, the same day the candidate filing period closes.
