The filing deadline for partisan candidates for the May 3 primary has led to a flurry of local candidates filing their nominating petitions. For instance… the number of Republican candidates running for Williams County commissioner has doubled in the past week. Former Sheriff Steve Towns, along with Beth Votaw, daughter of a former commissioner, joined previously declared candidates Bart Westfall and Debra Holbrook Beevers in the May 3 GOP primary. No Democrats had filed, as of late Tuesday. Towns took office as sheriff in January 2012. He was forced to resign in March 2020 as part of a negotiated non-prosecution agreement to avoid being charged with three felony counts of theft in office. The charges were in addition to Towns’ conviction in November 2019 on a first-degree misdemeanor charge of public dissemination online of confidential information related to a child abuse case. The first-degree misdemeanor conviction had precluded Towns from running in the March 17 primary election.