Updated 11 a.m.: State filings added.

Several familiar faces were among the first in line yesterday at the county courthouse for the start of election filing season in Bartholomew County.

County Clerk Jay Phelps explains that there were eight people in line waiting when the office opened yesterday morning.

The first three at the counter were County Council District 4 Councilman Jorge Morales, County Commissioner Carl Lienhoop, filing for re-election, and County Auditor Barb Hackman who was filing to run as Treasurer.

Other candidates filing on the first day included Laura DeDomenic who is running for re-election to the County Council District 2 seat, County Treasurer Pia O’Connor who is running for auditor this year, and Marcus Speer who is also running for the council District 1 seat. All of those who filed yesterday are Republicans.

At the state level, former County Councilman Ryan Lauer filed to run for the district 59 seat in the statehouse representing most of Bartholomew County, while Charles Johnson filed to run for District 65, which includes part of the county. Both are Republicans. Democrat Steve Schoettmer filed to run in District 69.

Potential candidates have until Feb. 9th to file for election. Phelps says there are about four pages of forms that need to be filled out.

He said you can get a head start on filing by going  to the election section of the county clerk’s website at bartholomew.in.gov.