WORLAND — The Worland City Council has six seats up for election during the August primary election, plus the mayoral position.

Three of the seats are contested and the Northern Wyoming News contacted each candidate and asked them to respond to six questions. Those profiles are published on this page.

Those seats are a two-year term currently served by Kenneth Shearer in Ward 1, who was appointed to the seat. Shearer is challenged for the seat by Adam Martinez.

Ward 2 has two four-year seats up this year, one held by Mandy Horath, seeking re-election, and the other by appointed council member Kody DeMunbrun. They are being challenged for the seats by Wendy Fredricks and Morgan Muller.

Three seats, including the mayoral seat are currently unopposed. Write-in candidates may accept nominations after the primary election to be placed on the general election ballot in November. Those seats include a four-year term in Ward 1 with Keith Gentzler opting not to seek re-election. Scott Schaeffer has filed for the seat and is unopposed in the primary.

In Ward 3 there is one two-year seat open currently held by Caleb Vigil, who opted not to run to retain the seat. Current council member Mike Neufer is completing a four-year term in Ward 3 and opted to run for the two-year term rather than his four-year term.

There are currently no candidates for the four-year term in Ward 3. Write-in candidates can accept nominations after the primary to be on the general election ballot, which Neufer did in 2016.

Mayor Jim Gill announced his re-election in the spring. He is completing his first term as mayor after having served on the council.

During the Aug. 18 primary election, in the non-partisan municipal races the top two candidates for each seat will advance to the general election.

The candidates profiled here will all advance to the general election with the final determination of who will be elected to council coming in the Nov. 3 general election.

Absentee voting for the Aug. 18 primary is currently underway. Absentee ballots for the primary elections are available up until the day before the primary election on Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. through the Washakie County clerk’s office.

According to County Clerk Mary Grace Strauch, absentee ballots may be requested either in person, by mail, through a form recently sent out to registered voters, over the phone at 347-3131, through fax or on the Washakie County website under the voting tab.

Voters are being encouraged if they feel comfortable to vote via absentee ballot this year, as there will be social distancing regulations in place at the polling stations because of COVID-19.

Next week Senate District 20 candidates will be profiled, followed by House District 28 candidates on July 30 and U.S. Senate and U.S. House districts on Aug. 6.

Full candidate profiles can be found in this week's edition of the Northern Wyoming News.