With the deadline to file for candidacy fast approaching, many political races are starting to heat up. There are some races, however, that have barely reached a simmer.

On Nov. 8, voters will seek to fill four seats on all the county's city and village councils.

Most of the councils will have contested races, but a few currently will simply be elected by the virtue that they are the only applicants, and some councils may not even have enough candidates to fill open slots.

For example, the Ironton City Council will have four seats up for grabs on November 8, and as of two weeks before the Aug. 25 deadline, only one candidate

- Leo Johnson - is on the ballot, although several others including current councilmen Brent Pyles, Bob Isaac and Bill Nenni have picked up petitions.

The situation is more dire in Athalia, where no petitions for office have been picked up, said Mary Wipert, director of the Lawrence County Board of Elections.

"There may be a problem in Athalia," Wipert said.

To the best of her knowledge, if any councils have empty seats after the election, those councils will have to nominate new members if they want to continue to operate.

"Otherwise, they lose their status if they don't have enough members," Wipert said.

Half of all the county's township trustees (two from each township) will also be up for re-election on Nov. 8, those are races that won't be difficult to fill, Wipert said.

"There's never a problem getting people to run for trustees," Wipert said. "I don't think there will be a trustee (election) that there won't be enough people for.

There will, of course, be some hotly contested positions that won't be any trouble to fill, such as the already embattled Ironton Municipal Judge's seat, for which current Judge O. Clark Collins Jr. and Ironton attorney Kevin Waldo are vying.

Donald Capper, Lawrence County Municipal Judge whose term also expires at the end of this year, will run unopposed.

Chesapeake, Ironton city, Rock Hill and South Point school districts will have two available seats a piece on their boards of education. Dawson Bryant, Fairland and Symmes Valley will be electing three members each.