Tomorrow will be the official opening of the political filing period, when folks seeking elected office can file papers with the Board of Elections office declaring their intentions.

Already several area people have thrown their hats in the ring — Kate Appler and Garry Scearce have both announced they will be running for the Surry County Board of Commissioners seat being vacated by Craig Hunter.

We hope more people will file to run, not just for Hunter’s seat, but for other local offices that will be open in the fall election. Running for office is a tiring, sometimes-difficult effort, but when candidates are plentiful, voters are better served with a wider choice.

There should be no shortage of candidates in Surry County, in fact, because a number of issues in recent years have turned out crowds who seem to oppose the commissioners in many of their votes. This would be the time for those folks to stand up and not only say what they oppose, but what they stand for and how they hope to help the county’s residents.

Those seeking to run, however, should realize that seeking public office is a chance to serve others in the community, not impose a particular personal agenda.

Given that, we believe there are plenty of people in the county who can bring good, strong, relevant experience to the election, with a true willingness to take on the tough job of public service. We hope those folks will run for office.