Political candidates gathered at the Boyle County Clerk’s Office Thursday afternoon to witness and participate in the drawing of names for May’s primary election ballot.

To avoid listing candidates in alphabetical order, contested races are drawn for, randomizing the order the candidates appear in.

Boyle County Clerk Trille Bottom ran the brief event, during which numbered ping-pong balls were drawn from a bright red Ace Hardware bucket. If candidates in contested primary races were present, they were allowed to draw their own ping-pong balls; otherwise, the balls were drawn by members of the Boyle County Board of Elections.

Bottom said there are a large number of candidates and contested primary races this year. That’s been a trend recently, as more Republicans file for office and more races involve both Democratic and Republican primaries, she said.

In addition to partisan races that will be on the ballot May 22, the order of names was chosen for the non-partisan Danville City Commission race. Because only six candidates filed in that race, there will be no primary — a primary is only triggered for the city commission race if at least nine people file.

Bottom said the cities of Junction City and Perryville opt out of the primary elections. That means however many people file for city seats all appear on the general election ballot in November.

The ballot orders drawn Thursday are:

• Boyle County Judge-Executive, Democrats: David Reeves, Gary Chidester

• Boyle County Judge-Executive, Republicans: Lynn Harmon, Howard Hunt III

• Jailer, Democrats: Dewayne Taylor, Brian Wofford, Bobby J. Potts

• Jailer, Republicans: LeeRoy Hardin, Rita Douglas

• Magistrate District 2, Republicans: Ronald Short, Carl Gwinn

• Magistrate District 4, Republicans: Jason Cullen, Robert Earl Robinson

• Magistrate District 5, Democrats: Jamey Gay, Suzanne S. Sandidge

• Constable District 2, Democrats: James Henson, Dennis Curtsinger

• Constable District 3, Democrats: John C. Hambel, James Murphy

• Danville City Commission (non-partisan, order chosen for general election): Denise Terry, James “JH” Atkins, Rick Serres, Ronald Devrick, Charles Singleton, Kevin Caudill