Editor's note: This is the fifth in a five-part series detailing 2012 elections in the Northern Panhandle.
---
NEW MARTINSVILLE - Voters in Wetzel County will see contested primaries for commissioner, assessor and sheriff this year.
Commissioner Robert "Bob" Gorby faces a Democrat challenge from three candidates - Amy Jo Dieffenbauch, Cecelia Ries and Allen Rush.
No Republicans filed for any elected office in the county.
The seat of Commissioner Scott Lemley isn't up for election this year, but Lemley is on the ballot. He is among three Democrats filing for the assessor's job, along with current Sheriff James B. Hoskins and Nita J. King.
Hoskins is completing his second term as sheriff and can't seek re-election. Democrats seeking to succeed Hoskins are John E. Brookover, Mark Eller, Chief Deputy Robert Haught and Jeff Montgomery.
County officials running unopposed this year are Prosecutor Timothy E. Haught, Surveyor Henry M. Parsons and Magistrates Judith Phillips-Goontz and Thomas J. Shepherd.
Two candidates will be selected for the nonpartisan board of education from among Jim "Cork" Bowen, Carolyn LeMasters Gatian and Linda Kirk.
There also will be nonpartisan elections in the city of New Martinsville, where the mayoral candidates are Steven A. Bohrer and Keith Nelsen.
Seeking election to council are Linda K. Barth and Matt Bland in the 1st Ward; Joel Potts and Doris A. Fannin in the 5th Ward; and Dennis Lively, Anthony Castranova and Iris "Deaner" Isaacs in the 6th Ward.
In Tyler County, one Republican candidate filed in each of the following races: Charles Smith, commissioner; David Luke Furbee, prosecutor; Earl P. Kendle Jr., sheriff; and Thomas Wince, surveyor.
Democrat Michael Galluzzo and Republican Jackson L. Hayes are candidates for assessor; while Republican Michael K. Griffin and Democrat John E. Roberts have filed to run for the two magistrate seats up for election.
In nonpartisan races, Ronald P. Fletcher is the only candidate for conservation district supervisor.
Voters will also elect two members to the Tyler County Board of Education from among Ralph H. Boone, Linda L. Hoover and P.J. Wells.
