Three of our local West Virginia communities are holding elections in the coming months, and the ballots are mostly set.

In Follansbee, the incumbent mayor is facing a challenge from a member of council. Five council seats also will be on the ballot, with multiple candidates filed for each (three have three candidates and the other two have two candidates each). Meanwhile, one council seat, along with the city attorney, city clerk and police chief, will go unchallenged. Follansbee has a primary election set for April 4, with the general election on June 13.

Wellsburg has contested races for four council seats and an unopposed candidate for the office of collector-treasurer.

No one has filed for Wellsburg’s city clerk post, which means, unless a write-in candidate comes forward, that office will have to be appointed at the beginning of the new terms.

What makes Wellsburg’s election interesting is that several years ago the city passed an ordinance allowing for the cancellation of its primary election in the event no more than two candidates file for each office. That means, it is likely Wellsburg will forego its usual primary this year, and move everything forward to the general election in June.

The full listing for both appeared in our Feb. 1 edition.

New Cumberland voters, while seeing more offices on their ballots than usual this year, basically have their choices made for them…which is unfortunate.

There are five council seats up for grabs as part of the city’s May 9 election. Typically, New Cumberland has staggered their council races, with three up one year, and the other three and the mayor up the next time. This year, as a result of various unexpected vacancies and the subsequent appointments, voters will select five council representatives.

The seats will have different terms in an effort to get them back in line with their regular schedule, but each race has only one candidate.

We had a run-down of the candidates, the seat they are seeking and the length of each term in our Feb. 8 edition for those who want to go back and take a look.

Typically, this year also would have featured an election in the city of Weirton. That changed following the 2019 election, when the city charter was changed to put the city’s election in line with the presidential election. So, we will have another year to wait for the excitement of a Weirton election. Officials in the city are still busy in preparing for it, though, as some adjustments to Weirton’s wards and precincts will have to be made.

You see, voting precincts in Weirton don’t line up with the voting precincts designated by our two counties. Realigning the precincts would, hopefully, cut down on the complications of this change as, otherwise, multiple ballots would be needed throughout the city. Of course, this might also need another charter change as Weirton’s ward boundaries were originally established in the city charter. They’ve been adjusted before, though, as there haven’t always been seven members of Weirton Council.

It’s a lot of work, and hopefully, it can all be taken care of before January 2024.

Next year also will feature the presidential election (yes, it’s already here) as well as various county and state elections – county commission and school board races have another round, as will all of our House of Delegates, some of our state Senate, both of West Virginia’s U.S. House races and one U.S. Senate seat.

That’s a lot to unpack, and thankfully, we have another year to prepare.

For residents in Wellsburg, Follansbee, and even New Cumberland, take the next couple of months to get to know those seeking office in your cities. Beginning in July, some of those individuals will be representing you here at home.

(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter @CHowellWDT)