Hitting the Polls: Lakeville's Primary Election Guide

As far as elections go, there isn't a lot of local drama on the ballot in tomorrow's Primary election. Most of the news will come from various contested races for national office where the party-on-party violence is in full swing for races such as U.S. Senate where incumbent Democrat Amy Klobuchar has three other DFLers challenging her.

And that's really the point of the state's primary election. It's a "party ballot" meaning voters are selecting their preferred choice of their party to move forward to the Nov. 6 General Election ballot.

It also means in races where there's only one Democrat or Republican running, those races will not appear on the primary ballot.

Lakeville's filing deadline for local office is tomorrow—the same day as the primary—so you wont find any city council or school board races on the ballot. Lakeville's Dakota County Commissioner Paul Krause is running unopposed, so you wont find that on the ballot either.

What should you expect?  has put together a guide of sorts to help locals before heading to their respective polling locations.

Logistics

Lakeville residents should be advised that . In fact, three new precincts have been added, and that resulted in Lakeville being splintered into a number of new state house and senate districts.

To find your precinct, visit the Secretary of State's online Polling Place Finder.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Lakeville’s 17 precincts.

Those voting absentee must do so by 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 13. Woodbury voters with a valid reason for voting absentee may vote in person at the , 2150 Radio Drive, or the Cottage Grove Service Center, 13000 Ravine Parkway.

Absentee voting hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with special hours on Saturday, Aug. 11, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information, visit the city’s elections webpage.

Additional information is also available on the Secretary of State’s website.

What races are on the ballot?

Editor's note: candidates whose names are bold have filled out Lakeville Patch's candidate survey. This list begins with local races first and descends with races with a larger scope. Voters can select one candidate in total. The candidate with the highest number of votes from each party will move on to the November general election ballot.

State house and senate races

Lakeville is divided into three house districts and three senate districts. Of those, only one race is on the Primary ballot: Senate District 57, where there are two DFL candidates—Mike Germain and —running to oppose Republican senate candidate Pat Hall.

Just Lakeville precincts 16 and 17 in the northeast corner of the city are in the contested Senate District.

U.S. House

Longtime Lakeville GOP Congressman John Kline faces a Republican challenger in David Gerson to face DFL candidate Mike Obermueller for the Second Congressional District seat in November.

U.S. Senate

On the Senate side, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is being challenged by three other DFLers: Jack Edward Shepard, "Dick" Franson and Darryl Stanton. There are also three Republicans on the primary ballot: Kurt Bills, David Carlson and Bob Carney, Jr. In addition to them, there are two Independence Party candidates: Stephen Williams and Glen R. Anderson Menze.

Minnesota Supreme Court

There are two races for spots on Minnesota's Supreme Court featuring three candidates each that need to be winnowed to two.

Running for Chief Justice is incumbent . She faces Jill Clark and Dan Griffith. Running for the fourth seat on the court is incumbent  who faces  and Alan Nelson.

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A s for each Senate District has been as a PDF as has a and which districts they vote in.

If you are still unsure of where to vote, visit the Secretary of State's Polling Place Finder page at pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us.