After an early surge in the numbers of candidates seeking office, filing has dwindled somewhat in the past few weeks. Now with the holidays here, the filing for office came to at least a temporary halt over a week’s period.

There was no candidate filings locally between Tuesday, December 17 through Monday, December 23 at the Clinton County Clerk’s office. The office was closed Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for the Christmas holiday and reopened on Thursday morning.

Even though candidates still have a month to file nominating petitions to seek office, the number of local candidates to date are somewhat less than many anticipated.

As of Christmas Eve this past Tuesday, the number of candidates for local office remained at 35 total, including 32 Republicans and three Democrats. One original candidate who filed early has withdrawn.

There are also a handful of candidates seeking judicial seats including district and circuit judge, state seats, which includes House of Representatives and State Senate, and federal races that include Congress and one U.S. Senate seat. There are also a couple of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals races that will appear on the May 2014 primary election ballot.

An updated list of all candidates, both local and other state/district races will be published in next weeks edition.

The deadline for filing with either local county clerk’s or the Secretary of State is January 28 at 4 p.m.