The Miami County Board of Elections set the stage for the March primary Dec. 17, certifying petitions of candidates including four for sheriff, two for prosecuting attorney and two for each of two seats on the county commission.

The board reviewed petitions, which were checked earlier by elections staff.

The board rejected nine petitions based on errors considered “fatal” under state law. The petitions all were for candidates for the county Republican Central Committee.

The number of rejections was down from August when petitions of 30 candidates, including several incumbents, were thrown out because of fatal errors. Since then, the elections staff developed a candidate checklist and distributed it as petitions were picked up at the elections office.

The board certified petitions for the following contested races:

Sheriff: Candidates (all Republicans) are Dave Duchak, current sheriff’s chief deputy; Chris Anderson, retired Troy police captain; Steve Cooper, retired sheriff’s captain; and Paul Reece, a former deputy in both Miami and Montgomery counties.

Prosecuting attorney: Candidates (both Republicans) are Tony Kendell, incumbent, and Mel Kemmer, retired municipal court judge.

County commissioner: Candidates for the Jan. 2 term (both Republicans) are Richard Cultice, incumbent, and challenger Greg Simmons, a former county employee and retired juvenile center director.

County commissioner: Candidates for the Jan. 3 term (both Republicans) are John “Jack” Evans, incumbent, and Cynthia Lillicrap, a newcomer to county races.

Those running unopposed for other county offices (all Republicans and all incumbents) are: Jan Mottinger, clerk of courts; William Ginn, coroner; Paul Huelskamp, engineer; Jessica Lopez, recorder; and Jim Stubbs, treasurer.

Running unopposed for the 80th District State Representative seat is incumbent Stephen Huffman. The district covers Miami and a portion of Darke counties.

Twenty candidates also have filed for the 8th District Congressional seat of John Boehner, including five from Miami County. The Miami County candidates are State Sen. Bill Beagle along with Warren Davidson, J.D. Winteregg, George Wooley and Scott George, all of Troy.

The petitions for central committee thrown out were filed by: Ryan Matthew Martin, James Oda and Mary Buechter, all of Piqua; John Frigge of Troy; Philip Cox, Samuel Spano and Donna Hughes, all of Tipp City; and Anne Huffman and Barth Snyder of West Milton.