Ward 5 voters will have another option when they go to the polls for the May 9 City Council elections in that ward and in Ward 1.

City Secretary Tomas P. Saenz said a 22-year-old Coastal Bend College student, Christopher Ramirez, filed at 1:50 p.m. Friday as a write-in candidate for the ward now occupied by Mayor Kenneth Chesshir.

The mayor is not running for re-election this year, giving up a 16-year stint on the City Council. Chesshir has been elected mayor by his fellow councilmen each of the last 13 years.

Ramirez will be facing 43-year-old certified public accountant Libby Hithcock Spires for the Ward 5 council seat. She filed on Feb. 9, the first day for filing.

Saenz said Ramirez’s name will not appear on the ballot because he filed after the deadline. However, a space will be on the Ward 5 ballot where voters may write in his name.

Neither Spires nor Ramirez has sought public office in Beeville in the past.

The other contest in which voters will decide who will represent them will be in Ward 1 where 43-year-old incumbent Councilman Mike Scotten will be facing newcomer Belinda Saldivar Granado.

Scotten is finishing up his first two-year term on the council. He is an independent petroleum landman.

Granado, 52, is an administrative assistant for County Judge David Silva.

Residents of Wards 1 and 5 who wish to cast ballots in this year’s elections will have until April 9 to register to vote or change their addresses.

Early voting by personal appearance is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Monday, April 27, and end at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 5. Personal appearance voters will cast their ballots at City Hall.

Voters wishing to cast ballots by mail this year were able to request those beginning March 10. The ballots must be returned to City Hall, by mail, by election day to be counted.