GALLIPOLIS - With less than a month remaining before the filing deadline for the May 2 primary, there has not yet been a rush of local candidates taking out petitions to get their names on the ballot.

In fact, as of Thursday only the incumbents in the two county offices that will be decided this year are circulating petitions, the county Board of Elections reported.

County Commissioner Harold Montgomery is seeking a second term this year after his return to the board of commissioners in 2003. He previously served as a commissioner from 1991 until 1999.

Auditor Larry Betz is looking for a third term in his post. Both he and Montgomery are Republicans.

The deadline to file petitions for the primary, where the party faithful in the Democratic and GOP aisles nominate candidates for office in the fall election, is 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16.

Candidates for commissioner and auditor must have 50 signatures from valid registered voters on their petitions when they file. Independent candidates are to gather 98 signatures and will have until May 1 to submit their petitions for inclusion on the fall ballot.

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

Candidates in the House race must file petitions in Jackson County, which has the largest population in the district.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, his Sixth Congressional District seat is up for grabs and already attracting interested candidates from all over the 12-county district, in which 10 of those counties extend north from the Portsmouth area along the Ohio River.