Elizabeth Wilkes, who had a high-profile 2021 after serving as one of the state’s 12 congressional redistricting commissioners, hopes to get elected as El Paso County’s chief elections officer in 2022.

The Colorado Springs Democrat filed candidacy paperwork Wednesday for the county Clerk and Recorder race, which will have no incumbent candidate this year.

Wilkes unsuccessfully ran for the same office in 2018, earning only a little more than half as many votes as then-incumbent Republican Chuck Broerman after handily winning the Democratic primary.

So far, no other Democrat has filed to run for the post.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, term-limited Broerman has filed paperwork to run for the El Paso County Treasurer. Stephen Schleiker, the El Paso County Assessor filed paperwork to run for the seat last year. Peter Lupia, an anti-establishment Republican, has also filed to run for the office.

Wilkes recently earned an associate’s degree in mathematics from Pikes Peak Community College. Before pursuing her mathematics degree, she worked for Hewlett-Packard as a business analyst, according to her application for the redistricting commission. 

She has also worked and volunteered with local Democratic campaigns, including volunteering for Misty Plowright’s unsuccessful 2016 congressional campaign in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District. She has also worked with the El Paso County Democrats.

With a nearly two-to-one Republican registration advantage over Democrats in El Paso County, any Democrat faces an uphill fight there. Wilkes said she thinks she will benefit from the fact that the race will have no incumbent and from the name I.D. – a shorthand for voters’ awareness of a candidate – she established in 2018, as well as the experience she gained as a redistricting commissioner.

“The Clerk and Recorder is going to be doing the same thing – redistricting the county’s districts,” Wilkes said. “I would be very good and impartial with that, and I understand how it works.”