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Ten Applicants Seek Ohio County Assessor’s Spot on November Ballot

WHEELING — A total of 10 Ohio County Democrats have applied to fill the vacancy on the Nov. 8 general election ballot created by the July 13 death of Assessor Kathie Hoffman.

Thursday was the deadline for submitting applications. Copies of the applications have been distributed to executive committee members, said George Fahey and Commissioner Orphy Klempa, co-chairmen of the Ohio County Democrat Party.

The committee is set to interview the candidates beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Carpenters Local 3 union hall, 56 19th St., Wheeling. Each of the prospective candidates will get 10 minutes to speak before the committee, and then the committee will deliberate on who to appoint.

The process is expected to take at least two hours, and will be conducted mostly in private executive session. There will be an area for those who wish to sit and await the committee’s decision.

“We expect a lot of people to be waiting,” Fahey said.

Klempa couldn’t provide the names of those who applied, but said all the candidates did meet the one and only criteria required by state law.

“We ran all their names through the database, and all are registered Democrats,” he said. “I can tell you that.”

According to information provided by the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office,  the county executive committee has 21 days after the date of a candidate’s death to appoint someone to replace them on the ballot. That deadline would come Aug. 3.

No Republicans filed in the race during the January filing period, so whomever the committee appoints will be running unopposed, for the time being. And thus far there have been no Independent candidates to file in Ohio County, according to Toni Chieffalo coordinator of  elections.

Any interested candidate has until Aug. 1 to file to run for assessor as a non-party-affiliated candidate.

County officials also are tasked with filling the vacant assessor’s position through the end of Hoffman’s term on Dec. 31. State law requires commissioners to appoint a Democrat — Hoffman’s party — to the post within 30 days.

Klempa said the commissioners likely will address the issue when they next meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 9.

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