Election workers, candidates and interested citizens gather at the Wood County Courthouse to await Tuesday’s primary election returns. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

PARKERSBURG – It was looking like a rough night for some incumbent lawmakers as the votes were being tallied in Wood County’s primary election Tuesday night.

With 54 of the county’s 69 precincts reporting at deadline, Wood County Dels. Vernon Criss and Scot Heckert were trailing challengers Charles Hartzog and Melissa McCrady, respectively, by significant margins in the Republican primaries for House Districts 12 and 13.

The winners in those races will face Democrats Dennis V. Rempel and Marley Umensetter in the general election.

Full, unofficial results can be viewed online at NewsandSentinel.com and in Thursday’s print edition.

Haley Meredith and Simon Hargus had commanding leads in the race for three seats on the Wood County Board of Education.

Williamstown City Councilman Marty Seufer, left, chats with Wood County Board of Education member Ron Tice while awaiting Tuesday’s election results at the Wood County Courthouse. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

They were among nine candidates in the nonpartisan race, whose winners will take office this summer.

The candidates were, from District A, John D. Merritt and Simon Hargus; from District B, incumbent Justin Raber, Allen W. Shultz and Haley Meredith; and from District C, Kevin Burkman, incumbent Debbie Hendershot, Jim Stout and Jason McCrady.

Because no more than two members from the same magisterial district can serve on the school board at one time, the election outcomes are limited by district representation rules. According to the Wood County Clerk’s Office, the results could include one candidate each from Districts A, B and C, or two candidates from District C alongside one candidate from either District A or District B.

Also set to be decided Tuesday was a race between incumbent Pat Peters and Marty Seufer and challenger Jeff Meeks for two seats on Williamstown City Council.

The occupants of seats in the West Virginia Legislature and on the Wood County Commission will be determined in November, with Tuesday’s voting narrowing the fields.

Sheriff Rick Woodyard, electrician Jerrod Lee Gard and U.S. Army veteran Greg Brannon are seeking the Republican nomination for the commission seat occupied by Jim Hamric following the retirement of Bob Tebay. No Democrats filed to run for the seat.

At the state level, incumbent Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood, is being challenged in the District 3 GOP primary by Del. Bob Fehrenbacher, R-Wood. The winner will face Democrat Caci Petrehn in November.

The second District 3 seat is on the ballot following the retirement of Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, in January. Sen. Trenton Barnhart, R-Pleasants, appointed to the seat by Gov. Patrick Morrisey, is facing former Delegate Jason Harshbarger in the GOP primary for the nomination to finish the unexpired term. No Democrats filed for the seat.

There are also contested primaries in House of Delegates.

In District 10, 17-term incumbent Del. Bill Anderson, R-Wood faces fellow Williamstown resident Justin Beanard in the Republican primary, with Christopher Jones unopposed on the Democratic side. In District 11, former state Homeland Security Secretary and Wood County Sheriff Jeff Sandy was neck and neck with Parkersburg City Council President Andrew Borkowski in the Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat Daniel Miller of Vienna in the fall.

Both parties had a trio of candidates seeking the District 14 nomination. Incumbent Del. Dave Foggin faced Angie Adams and Andy Daniel on the Republican side, while Crystal Dawn Butcher, Jim Marion and Jonathan White were running as Democrats.

As of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, voter turnout appeared to be down compared to previous elections, Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzales said.

“It has been slow today,” he said, based on conversations with people manning voting locations around the county.

Gonzales said it was a nice day with good weather. He had hopes that more people would be compelled to come out during the evening hours.

“Hopefully, the voter turnout will pick up in the next three hours,” he said at 4:30 p.m.

Gonzales said there were the usual minor equipment issues with getting everything in working order before voting started. They had no system problems that required any extensive attention throughout the day.

“We got it all taken care of,” Gonzales said.

The county needed 307 poll workers to properly staff the county’s voting locations for 71 voting precincts.

The county was short around eight to 10 poll workers Tuesday morning with people calling off. They had a few alternates that they were able to place with the rest of the vacancies filled with county employees from the clerk’s office.

“All of my employees were out in the field,” Gonzales said. “We did have all of the precincts covered.”

Throughout the day, the clerk’s office answered some calls from people wondering where they needed to go to vote.

“There were not too many,” Gonzales said. “We let them know that and got them to the right precincts so they could vote.”

Gonzales attributes the lower turnout to not having a presidential race on the ballot this time.

“You can’t really say why they are not getting out,” he said. “We thought the weather would bring more people out.”