Last week, the Lawrence County Board of Elections released its list of candidates who are certified for this fall’s election.

The ballot will be comprised of city and village council seats, township trustees and school board races, in addition to local ballot issues.

One thing that we noticed was that, in a number of the races, the seats will be going uncontested, with the number of candidates matching the number of seats on the ballot.

But, in a few places, there were not enough candidates filed to even reach that threshold, meaning that there will be vacancies that will have to be filled with appointments after the election.

While this year’s deadline has passed, we would like to see this situation change for future elections.

Public involvement and a robust process are essential to good government and no race should go unchallenged or have a lack of candidates.

Everyone has something unique to bring to the table and more voices and more choices are always a plus for voters.

Even those who do not win election play an essential role in raising issues and expanding debate.

If you are available and feel you are up to the job, please give some consideration to public service and filing in races to come.