GALLIPOLIS - Out of a welter of state and regional offices up for election in 2006 are two local offices, and the filing deadline for potential candidates is rapidly approaching.

The date to file candidacy petitions with the Gallia County Board of Elections for the May 2 primary is Feb. 16 at 4 p.m., Elections Director Jeff Halley said.

The local offices that will appear on the primary ballot, which decides who will face off as Democratic and Republican candidates in the fall general election, are for county commissioner and county auditor.

Those positions now held by Republicans Harold Montgomery and Larry Betz, respectively.

Candidates for both positions must obtain 50 signatures of valid registered voters on their petitions. Independent candidates are to gather 98 signatures and have until May 1 to submit their petitions for inclusion on the fall ballot. More information on the process is available by contacting the elections board at 446-1600.

Montgomery, who was commissioner from 1991 to 1999, is serving a term he won in 2002 and Betz is in his second term as auditor.

Regional offices appearing on the primary ballot are for state representative in the 87th Ohio House District, a seat now held by Republican Clyde Evans of Rio Grande, and the 17th Ohio Senate District, currently filled by John A. Carey of Wellston, also a Republican.

Candidates in the House race must file their petitions in the district's largest county by population, Jackson. The site for filing in the Senate race is Ross County.

Evans is in his second term in the House, and Carey is coming to the close of his first four-year term as senator.

With U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, the Sixth Congressional District seat he's held for almost a decade is open and attracting candidates from both parties who are after their parties' respective nominations.

At the same time, U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine's seat will be on the ballot, as well as those of every state office.