MARSHALL — Six different area county commissioner races are scheduled for Election Day 2020, including three races in Lincoln County.

Three candidates will face off next week in a primary election for the seat in Lincoln County District 5, currently held by Jack Vizecky of Ash Lake Township near Ivanhoe.

He is being challenged by Richard Rolling of Limsestone Township northeast of Ivanhoe and Steve Hauswedell of Marshfield Township north of Tyler. The top two vote getters in the Aug. 11 primary will advance to the general election in November.

Voters in the Hendricks area commissioner district will have two choices in November to fill the seat held by Rick Hamer of Hendricks. Hamer did not file for re-election.

He will be replaced by either Jeff Moen of Hansonville Township or Dean Nielsen of Shaokatan Township. Moen is a former Minnesota legislative candidate.

Lincoln County’s third race will feature incumbent commissioner Corey Sik of rural Lake Benton and former commissioner Jim Johansen of Verdi. Johansen was first elected to the board in 2004.

“We’ll have a busy election year,” said Lincoln County Auditor Deb Vierhuf. “It’s not often that we have this many candidates.”

The counties of Yellow Medicine, Murray and Redwood will each have one commissioner race. The Yellow Medicine County contest will include incumbent Gary Johnson of rural Montevideo, the area’s longest serving county commissioner first elected in 1993.

He is being challenged by W. Mitch Kling of rural Granite Falls. The district includes Clarkfield and a group of nearby townships.

Two additional commissioners, Ron Antony of St. Leo and Glen Kack of Canby, are unopposed in their bids for re-election.

In Murray County, commissioner candidate Molly Malone of the Tepeeotah area on Lake Shetek will run against incumbent James Jens of Currie. Jens has served on the board since 2013.

Two Murray County board candidates will run unopposed in November. They include Lori Gunnink of Lake Wilson and Dave Thiner of Fulda.

“It’s a year without very many candidates,” said Murray County Auditor Heidi Winter. “We usually have had at least one primary. This will be the first time since I’ve been the auditor that we haven’t had one.”

Redwood County’s race will be in the western part of the county, featuring candidates Justin Lightfoot of Vesta and Rick Wakefield of Walnut Grove. Incumbent Lon Walling of Milroy did not seek re-election.

Two other commissioners are unopposed for re-election. They include Bob Van Hee of Redwood Falls and David Forkrud of Belview.

In Lyon County incumbent commissioners Charlie Sanow of rural Marshall, Gary Crowley of rural Ghent and Rick Anderson of rural Balaton are all running unopposed.

Soil and Water Conservation District elections in 2020 will include two races. Ryan Benedict of Lamberton and Brian Timm of Sanborn will run for a Redwood County seat, while Dave Boulton of rural Porter and David Fier of rural Taunton will run for a Lincoln County board position.

No one filed for a seat in Murray County, meaning that it will be offered to the top write-in vote getter in November.

A large group of SWCD candidates are running unopposed. They include Gary Laleman, Mark Meulebroeck, John Lanoue and Steve Prairie in Lyon County, Ron Bunjer in Lincoln County, Tom Remmele, Jerry Nelson and DeLon Clarksean in Yellow Medicine County, Mona Henkels and Karen Hurd in Murray County, and Rick Maurer and Joseph Plaetz in Redwood County.

“It’s almost always quiet with the soil and water races,” said Yellow Medicine County Auditor Janel Timm. “They don’t get much attention. Their boards actually do a lot of important work with agriculture and conservation.”