The deadline for filing a petition to run for office in the November general election is 4 p.m. Thursday.

According to information from the board of elections office, 86 have filed petitions seeking several dozen seats on school boards, village and city councils and to run as township trustees.

Board of Elections Deputy Director Eric Bradshaw said 53 people have picked up petitions but have yet to file them. He is anticipating this year will be no different from previous ones and many office seekers will wait until the filing deadline to hand in their necessary paperwork.

“Right at the end of the day we’ll get busy. Two people picked up petitions today, with the deadline just two days away,” Bradshaw said. “Then Friday is when we’ll have a board meeting and certify everything.”

The courthouse may well be a crowded place Thursday as political hopefuls jostle along corridors next to people attending the third delinquent real estate tax auction that begins at 9 a.m. Both the board of elections office and the tax sale are on the first floor of the Lawrence County Courthouse.

If the 2010 election seems a long way off to you, three Lawrence Countians apparently have a different opinion.

Stephen Dale Burcham, a Democrat, has filed to run for county auditor next year; Burcham is the sitting county treasurer.

County Commissioner Jason Stephens, a Republican, has picked up a petition to run for auditor but has not yet filed.

Additionally, Pedro businessman Gene Cox, a Republican, has picked up a petition to run for county commissioner next year but has not yet filed his petition.

Thus far, these people have filed their necessary paperwork to seek elective office in November.

Township trustee

Aid — 2

Brian Pancake, John Robinson, Wayne Taylor and George Gabriel Patterson

Decatur — 2

Ronnie Cox, Tim Blagg

Elizabeth — 2

Shannon Summers,

Greg Boggs, Ron

Davis, Charles

Maynard, Brian Kidd, Ricky Markel and

Darrell Perry

Fayette — 2

Simon Gore, Mike

Finley and Perry Brock

Hamilton — 2

Bob Blankenship,

Forrest Kerns Jr. and Larry Fraley

Lawrence — 2

Scott Gore and Verna Harper

Mason — 2

Jamie Klaiber, Shannon Payne, Justin Simpson and Stephen S. Colegrove

Perry — 2

Barry Blankenship and Jeff Joseph

Rome — 2

Dean Cooper, Mark Bailey and Brian Pinkerman

Symmes — 2

Ronald Hatfield and Fayne Taylor

Union — 2

Mike Curry, Rick Gue

and Doug Baise

Upper — 2

Don Klaiber,

Christopher Knipp, Robert J. Ackerman

Washington — 2

Jerry E. Kelley

Windsor — 2

Donald Adkins, Donald Rigney and Robert E. Burcham

City and village races

Athalia — 4

Benjamin Keeney

Chesapeake — 4

Richard McMaster

Coal Grove — 4

Philip Roush and Juelda Collins

Hanging Rock — 4

Susan Fatony

Ironton — 4

Bob Cleary, Leo Johnson, Hugh Donald Scott and Beth Rist

Proctorville — 4

Brenda Chapman, Justin Wurtzler, Raymond W. Shephard and Larry David Peters

South Point — 4

Robert Armstrong, Ronald West, Danny A. Smith and David Classing.

School boards

Lawrence County ESC — 3

Roland Hayes, Phillip Carpenter and Ray I. Malone

Chesapeake — 2

Kenneth Wolfe, Jerry Osborne, Grover Smith and Charles Sanders

Dawson-Bryant — 3

Michael Nourse, Jamie Murphy, Katy Ford, Sadie Mulkey and Tim Stormes

Fairland — 3

(plus one unexpired term)

Greg Crabtree and

Janice Singer,

Jason Gorby

(for unexpired term)

Ironton — 2

Jay Zornes, A. Burton Payne and Jerry Brownstead

Rock Hill — 2

Wanda Jenkins and Paul David Knipp

South Point — 2

Rita Vance, Terry Blake, Les York and Rose Christian

Symmes Valley — 3

Chris Thompson, Hope Rowe, S. Kent Wells and Tommy Shepherd