With just more than a week left before candidate petitions must be filed for this year’s local elections, far too many vacancies remain uncontested, based on unofficial announcements from hopefuls in Otsego County.

But it’s not too late. Petitions are available at the county Board of Elections, and you don’t need that many signatures to get on the ballot.

In the city of Oneonta, prospective candidates have come forward to suggest contested races in just four of the city’s eight wards. That’s not a good record, considering Common Council seats are up just every four years.

Interest in the Otsego County Board of Representatives is running at about the same rate. That’s surprising, too, especially after the way the board has been floundering this year on a number of issues, such as overtaxation.

Candidates have stepped up to announce challenges and create contested races in seven of the 14 districts. Ordinarily, if that holds, it wouldn’t be a bad record for the Otsego board, which averages about five or six election battles every two years.

Candidate petitions are due Thursday, July 19, but even a week is plenty of time to gather enough signatures to qualify for a primary or the November ballot.

For example, a Republican running for county office in Otsego County has to collect about 740 valid signatures from registered Republicans, while a Democrat would need about 530 signatures from Democrats.

But that’s for countywide office. In the average county board district, you’re looking at more like 40 to 50 signatures, or 5 percent of a political party’s registered voters in the district.

In Delaware County, where town supervisors still make up the county board in the traditional board of supervisors system, apparently several incumbents are not planning to seek re-election.

The county has been dominated by wind-power and watershed issues, which likely are major factors in determining who is not running and who is deciding to seek office.

For those wishing to get involved in those issues, or perhaps just to contribute to building a better community, here’s your chance.

Back in Oneonta, it appears four incumbent aldermen have decided to call it quits, and that has created some incentive for others to get involved. In at least three of those four wards, there will be contested races in the September primary or the November election.

In Cooperstown, only a couple of county board reps have decided to call it quits, but most of the interest from newcomers has been in other districts and apparently generated by the board’s miscues. And the fact candidates have announced in only half of the 14 districts is a surprise.

It will be interesting to see how many candidates scramble for signatures in the coming week to make the petition deadline. And we are looking forward to an exciting local election year.