Where will they be on the ballot?

That's always a big question for people running for some West Virginia offices.

Statewide, the order of names in multiple-candidate races was determined Tuesday in offices such as the Wood County Clerk's office.

In most races, there's just one Democrat and one Republican candidate, but that's not the case for offices such as House of Delegates and Magistrate Court, the offices for which drawings were made Tuesday.

And it's important for voters who otherwise would vote for a "straight-party" ticket.

"In a multiple-candidate race, once you manually vote on the candidate from another party, you de-select the pre-checked candidates of that party," said County Clerk Jamie Six. "You have to re-check the candidates you want to continue to keep your vote."

Here is the order of candidates in multi-candidate (more than two candidates for each office) races:

Wood County Magistrate

Robin A. Waters (R)
Barry A. Murphy (R)
Brenda K. Marshall (R)
Joe A. Kuhl (R)
G. Bradley Frum (D)
Joyce S. Purkey (D)
Debbie Hendershot (D)

West Virginia House of Delegates 10th District

Frederick David Gillespie (R)
John N. Ellem (R)
Tom Azinger (R)

West Virginia Supreme Court Justice

John Yoder (R)
Allen Laughry (R)
Letitia "Tish" Chafin (D)
Robin Jean Davis (D)

Six says that, in races where there was one candidate for each political party, the Republican party candidate will be listed first, because the G.O.P. (and nominee John McCain) carried West Virginia in the 2008 presidential election.