On the day you receive this edition of The Ironton Tribune, the filing deadline for candidates in the May primary in Lawrence County will be here.

Candidates will have until the close of the Board of Elections office today to turn in petitions and get on the ballot to run for office.

Hopefully, this year’s races will be more competitive than last year, in which many village councils and township had no competition and incumbents were automatically re-elected, or not enough candidates on the ballot to fill vacancies, leading to councils having to appoint members to remaining seats.

This is not to single out any particular incumbent, many of whom do a fine job representing their constituents, but it is always healthier for any government, local or national, if there is competition.

There is the saying in politics that you should always act as if you’re “running behind or running scared” and not having a situation where any officeholder takes re-election for granted is always beneficial to the public.

In the coming days, we will give an overview of just who filed for offices this year, what ballot issues are up for a vote and, in the following weeks, we will strive to cover the elections in as much detail as possible.

In the meantime, as always, we would like to hear from you. What issues would you like to see addressed and what questions do you have for candidates?

Please send your suggestions to briefs@irontontribune.com.

Through citizen involvement and an active media, we can keep the debate open and work toward a better informed voting population for May.