Elected roles such as assessor, recorder and public administrator may seem minor, but they help the county run smoothly. 

Some of the candidates seeking office in Clark County in 2026 are public servants with years of experience in the bureaus that they are looking to lead. Others have more checkered pasts. 

Who are the people appearing on the ballot this year? The Nevada Independent digs into the administrative positions that support Clark County, as well who's vying for the spots. 

Assessors, recorders and public administrators are considered "elected officers" and have base annual salaries of about $165,000, $162,000 and $152,000, respectively. As partisan races, candidates declare their party affiliation and only voters registered as Democrat or Republican will weigh in on their party's candidates in the primary.

Recorder 

A county recorder is in charge of maintaining and recording public documents, such as deeds, mortgages, liens or military discharge records. When someone buys or sells a house, they would go to the recorder's office to get documentation for the sale of their home. 

In Clark County, Recorder Debbie Conway, a Democrat who has held the office since 2014, has decided not to run, and there is a faceoff between two veterans of the recorder's office for the position. One candidate has been endorsed by the current county recorder and the other filed a lawsuit against the incumbent recorder.

Skye Berry Burress, a Democrat, has worked in the recorder's office for 14 years and holds the position of office services manager. She said she wants to modernize the recording process, increase staff training, improve cybersecurity and create more public outreach. Her website states that, because she is not a career politician, she would bring "fresh ideas unshaped by partisanship or political influence" to the position. 

Burress has raised $27,362 through the first three months of this year, according to reports filed with the secretary of state. 

In October last year, Burress sued Conway, as well as the recorder's office itself, for workplace discrimination — the case is pending, with court dates scheduled throughout the summer.  

"I have been passed over for promotion four times," Burress said. "I've seen people who are not qualified put in leadership positions. It's unfair. It's why I wanted to run." 

Conway has endorsed Assm. Tanya Flanagan (D-Las Vegas), who is running for the same position. 

Burress declared bankruptcy last year. She said she had no other option as she has a child in school and is the only child of elderly, sick parents and needed to care for her family members. Burress also was convicted of "passing worthless checks" in 1994. 

"I was not made aware of that," Burress said about the charges, in a conversation with The Indy. She said she had "never been in court," but had "really bad" roommates in college and left her living situation. 

Flanagan, senior training coordinator in the recorder's office, is finishing out a term as a Democrat in the Assembly and has 23 years of experience working in Clark County government. A survivor of breast cancer, she is the board president of the Nevada chapter of Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. She is a former newspaper reporter. 

In a conversation with The Indy, Flanagan said she did not want to comment on the pending litigation by Berry Burress against the recorder's office. She said she was focused on running a smooth campaign and focusing on her vision for the role.

"I'm a fair person and I respect that each individual person has the right to run for office," Flanagan said about Burress. 

She wants to continue to streamline the administrative processes in the department — moving transactions to a cashless system, improving technology and maintaining communication between the assessor's and the public administrator's offices. 

"I think I can do good work in this space," Flanagan, citing her experience in the recorder's office as well as her understanding of how the state operates due to her time in the assembly. 

Flanagan has $25,395 in the bank. 

No other candidate aside from Flanagan and Burress has raised more than $10,000. Also running are Libertarian Steven Borella, Democrat Anna Perez, as well as Republicans Rana Saeed and Bill Young. 

Assessor

The county assessor's main duty is determining the value of property for tax purposes — the department keeps records of land parcels and real estate and determines tax exemptions or abatements. Before someone buys or sells a piece of property, whether it be for personal or professional reasons, an assessor can determine the value of the parcel. 

The current assessor, Democrat Briana Johnson, has held the office since 2019 and is not running for re-election. 

Democrat Melissa Martinet, a native Las Vegas resident, has been working in the assessor's office since 2003 and is currently the manager of assessment services. She is secretary of the Nevada Assessors' Association and has been a member of the International Association of Assessing Officers Member for 10 years. She is a member of the first graduating class of Palo Verde High School and graduated from UNLV. 

Martinet has raised $11,015 in the race through the first quarter of this year, according to filings with the secretary of state. 

She has been endorsed by the current assessor, Johnson, and Michele Shafe, the assessor who served before Johnson as well as three other Nevada county assessors. Martinet's website features a quote from Johnson on her run. 

"I know she has the knowledge and experience to lead the office and will continue to meet the mission and vision of the Assessor's office," Johnson said. 

Her primary opponent, Democrat Tamicka Washington, is an appraisal technician in the assessor's office and has worked in the department for more than two decades. She's been endorsed by County Commissioner William McCurdy II and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the Nevada Veterans Association and Service Employees International Union Local 17. 

She has raised $3,720 so far. On her website, Washington said she wants to promote accuracy in property assessments, increasing public transparency and implementing "fair" tax policies that would "restore trust" in the community. 

Former Clark County School Board Trustee Kevin Child and former federal worker Judy Joe — both Republicans — as well as Libertarian Lynnette Warren are also running for assessor, though they have not raised more than $1,000 for their campaigns. 

Public administrator

The public administrator position is responsible for managing the estates of residents who have died without a will, known heirs or anyone else who would be legally eligible to handle their estates. 

In Clark County, the position has been marred by its history. A previous public administrator, Robert Telles, was convicted of murdering Las Vegas-Review Journal journalist Jeff German in 2022 after German wrote articles uncovering inappropriate workplace conditions in Telles' office. 

Stephanie Itkin-Goodman, a Democrat, said she wants to restore the public's trust in the position. She is a deputy attorney general at the Nevada Attorney General's Office where she's been since May of 2025. Previously, she had experience working in corporate law as well as at other district attorney's offices in the New York City metropolitan area. 

Itkin-Goodman is on the City of Las Vegas' Department of Public Safety board, is the director of the Las Vegas Police Academy Alumni Association, as well as a member of the Young Lawyers Section for the State Bar of Nevada. 

Itkin-Goodman has raised $10,802 in this race so far, and has been endorsed by the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and the Blue Voter Guide. 

Some of the candidates in the race have connections to Telles, including M.J. Ivy, who is running as a Democrat and has experience in marketing, sales and public relations, according to his LinkedIn profile. The Review-Journal broke the news that Ivy, whose legal first name is Marlin, campaigned with Telles during a prior run for office and called him a "friend." 

Ivy has a criminal background and spent time in prison starting in 2013 after being convicted of attempted robbery and battery with a deadly weapon charges, though one charge was overturned. In a January interview with the Review-Journal, Ivy spoke positively about Telles.

"I would never deny knowing him," Ivy said. "From what he presented to me and the community, he was a good dude."

He has not filed campaign finance reports with the secretary of state's office. 

Edgar Velasquez, a Democrat, is running as well. Velasquez has decades of experience in real estate administration as a private administrator for Compass Realty & Management. Like a public administrator, private administrators act on behalf of family or friends to handle people's estates. Velasquez said he wants to ensure that the public administrator office is "fair and transparent." 

Compass Realty & Management was embroiled in controversy after it was accused of buying the homes of recently deceased people without notifying their families and "flipping" the houses for a profit. 

A judge ruled that Velasquez be suspended from more than two dozen real estate cases for using the position to benefit himself and removed entirely from a case of a man who died without a will, according to the Nevada Current. Velasquez is appealing the ruling. 

Michael Murphy, a Republican who served as public administrator for almost a year after Telles was removed from office, is also running. He is a retired police officer with 25 years of experience and was also the Clark County coroner for 13 years. Now, he runs a small consulting firm called Mpower USA. 

Similarly to Itkin-Goodman, Murphy is running on restoring trust and public confidence in the office, as well as increasing accountability and constituent services for residents. 

Republican Mark Sprinkle, a former veteran, served in the National Guard and the U.S. Army between 2002 and 2010. After his service, Sprinkle worked for Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and the Nevada Legislature's Legislative Counsel Bureau. He was also a valet at The Venetian and The Palazzo. He has raised $1,537. 

Donald Salazar, another Republican, does not have a website listed nor has he reported raising any money.