Filing ended this past Friday for city council and school board elections in May. The cities of West Orange and Pinehurst, along with the Bridge City and Little Cypress-Mauriceville school districts, will be able to cancel their elections. State law allows board and council elections without contested races to be canceled.

The city of Bridge City has the Place 3 council seat being contested after incumbent Tammi Fisette decided not to run. Bryant Champagne and Kenneth Prosperie will vie for the position. Incumbents Aaron Roccaforte in Place 1 and Terri Gauthier in Place 5 will be running unopposed.

City of Orange council incumbent Paul Burch drew an opponent for his At-large Position 6 seat. Henry Junior Leger filed to run as his opponent. Orange is the only school district or city with single-member voting districts. Burch and Leger are running for one of the council's at-large seats, meaning every eligible voter in the city may cast a ballot. Incumbent Terrie Salter in Single-Member District 3 is unopposed on the ballot. City rules require her to get at least one vote on the ballot, with only registered voters in her district voting.

The West Orange-Cove CISD has two at-large positions open on the board of trustees. Four people have filed for the two seats, including incumbents Ruth Hancock and Tommy Wilson Sr. Every eligible voter in the district will mark two of the four names on the ballot and the two candidates who get the most votes will win.

Pinehurst is having an unusual problem. The council this year has three open at-large seats on the council, but only two people filed for the positions. Incumbents Dr. Michael Shahan and Troy Pierce turned in papers to run, while incumbent Joey Vance did not.

In the City of West Orange, all the incumbents, Mayor Randy Branch plus councilors Meritta Kennedy and Brent Dearing, filed with no opposition.

Vidor Mayor Misty Songe did not get an opponent, along with incumbents Mercedes Lewis for Ward 1 and Jessica Barker for Ward 4. However, three people be running for the Ward 6 seat. They are Victoria M. Jones, Kathryn Weldon, and Lisa M. Harris.

The Bridge City ISD Board of Trustees will see incumbents Michael Johnson in Place 6 and Mark Anderson in Place 7 returning without opposition.

Also, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville CISD Board had all eligible incumbents running alone for their spots. The incumbents are Clinton Temple in Place 1, Joshua Fisher in Place 2, and Kevin Wallace in Place 5.

Early voting will be Monday, April 24 through Friday April 28, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will run again on Monday, May 1, and Tuesday, May 2, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The sites are the Orange Public Library, Orange County Airport, Mauriceville Community Center, and Raymond Gould Community Center in Vidor.

The Orangefield school district has its board election in November. The port district and drainage district do not have board elections this year.