Election judge Lorene Kampf, and everyone else, was wearing a mask as she helped a voter last Tuesday in Blue Earth.

The race for the Faribault County Commissioner District 5 seat, currently held by Tom Warmka, is now down to two names that will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Bruce (Charlie) Anderson received 177 votes in the Primary Election held last Tuesday, Aug. 11. Taking second with 150 votes was Dennis Kosiolek.

The two will now face off in the General Election.

Paul Bach was the third person who had filed for the commissioner seat. He received 50 votes in last Tuesday’s election.

In state Representative races, Elmore mayor Bjorn Olson bested fellow Republican Michael Sukalski to be the GOP candidate on the ballot for the open District 23A seat.

District wide, Olson had 2,449 votes (57.54 percent) to Sukalski’s 1,807 (42.46 percent) votes cast.

In Faribault County, Olson had 772 votes in his home county to 431 for Sukalski, for a 64.17 to 35.83 percent margin.

Olson had been the Republican endorsed candidate for the race, but Sukalski, from Fairmont, had challenged the endorsement procedure and ran on the ballot.

Both men were seeking the right to run for election to replace state Rep. Bob Gunther who is retiring this year after 25 years in the state legislature.

Olson will now face off against Democrat Patricia Fahey Bacon. She was unopposed in the Primary Election, gaining 1,397 votes district wide, and 350 in Faribault County.

In District 27A which includes the eastern third of Faribault County, Democrat Thomas Martinez was selected with 1,669 votes (70.1 percent) versus his DFL opponent, Joe Pacosky’s 712 votes (29.9 percent).

In Faribault County, Martinez had 93 votes to Pacovsky’s 35 votes (27.34 percent).

Martinez now faces off against Republican Peggy Bennett, who ran unopposed in the Primary. She received 1,959 votes in the whole district, with 152 of those coming from Faribault County.

In statewide election ballot items, Republican Jason Lewis was selected as the candidate for the fall election for U.S. Senator out of a field of five choices.

Lewis garnered 180,811 votes (78.13 percent) state wide, with 834 votes in Faribault County (67.75 percent).

On the DFL side, Tina Smith had 461,495 votes (87.15 percent) statewide, taking first place out of a field of six candidates. In Faribault County Smith had 469 votes (86.53 percent) similar to her statewide margin.

Smith and Lewis will now face off in the Nov. 3 General Election.