# Carlsbad City Clerk Sherry Freisinger is running uncontested for Carlsbad City Clerk. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person is Carlsbad's elections official. They also keep the city's records, like agendas, minutes, contracts, and campaign disclosure filings. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Carlsbad - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/carlsbad-city-clerk - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 91 out of 100 (Very strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Sherry Freisinger** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Only one candidate qualified for City Clerk. Incumbent Sherry Freisinger appears unopposed for a second term -- so this contest is settled and your vote here does not change the outcome. Carlsbad's City Clerk is the city's elections official and the custodian of its public records -- agendas, minutes, contracts, and campaign-disclosure filings. The term is four years, and the office is elected separately from the mayor and council. With no opponent, the useful question is not who to choose but what the officeholder has done and what to watch next. An unopposed return means accountability for this office over the next four years runs through public records requests and City Council relations rather than through the ballot. ## Sherry Freisinger The incumbent, a certified municipal clerk who retired from the city and later returned as a part-time Clerk Services employee before her 2022 election as City Clerk. Sole qualified candidate for a second term. **Strengths:** Career experience inside Carlsbad's own Clerk Services office before taking the elected role, on top of a professional municipal-clerk certification. **Trade-offs:** Running unopposed means her record faces no organized counter-argument this cycle. **Keep in mind:** No independent biography or news profile beyond the city's own page and the two Coast News roundups was found for her in this pass -- her record here rests on official sources plus that outside corroboration, not a deeper independent profile. ## Sources 1. [San Diego County Registrar of Voters -- Candidate List, November 3, 2026 General Election (current through the 8/24/2026 2:44pm snapshot): confirms Mayor, City Council Districts 1 and 3, City Clerk, and City Treasurer as Carlsbad's five November 2026 races, and Mayor plus City Council Districts 1 and 3 as Poway's three November 2026 races, each Vote for 1](https://www.sdvote.com/content/dam/rov/en/election/nov-3-2026-gubernatorial-general-election/candidate-list.pdf) 2. [City of Carlsbad -- City Council page: an elected mayorplus four district-elected council members, each a 4-year term; names Mayor Keith Blackburn, Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel (District 3), and Council Member Melanie Burkholder (District 1); confirms the Mayor is elected citywide and Council members by district, and that the City Clerk and City Treasurer are also separately elected](https://www.carlsbadca.gov/city-hall/city-council) 3. [City of Carlsbad -- Clerk Services / Election Information page: names City Clerk Sherry Freisinger and states the City Clerk serves an elected 4-year term](https://www.carlsbadca.gov/city-hall/clerk-services) 4. [The Coast News Group -- "Election 2026: A guide to North County races" (Carlsbad City Council section): names all nine qualified candidates across Mayor, Districts 1 and 3, Treasurer, and confirms City Clerk Sherry Freisinger is running unopposed, current as of the Aug. 7, 2026 filing deadline](https://thecoastnews.com/election-2026-a-guide-to-north-county-races/) 5. [San Diego Union-Tribune (Phil Diehl) -- "Carlsbad's mayor, 2 council seats, treasurer and clerk on the ballot in November": independently confirms five incumbents on the ballot against a small field of challengers and reports Blackburn's re-election campaign raised $42,673; the full article is paywalled beyond its opening paragraphs as retrieved](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/08/17/carlsbads-mayor-2-council-seats-treasurer-and-clerk-on-the-ballot-in-november/) 6. [City of Carlsbad NetFile — public campaign-disclosure search](https://netfile.com/public/CAR/campaign/search-entities) ## The rest of the ballot Carlsbad City Clerk is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Carlsbad City Clerk — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/carlsbad-city-clerk (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.