Cook County voter wide turnout for the off-year primary was 54.5 percent, up from the 24 percent who cast ballots in the primary election two years ago.
Incumbent county commissioner Ginny Storlie received 193 votes to lead her three challengers in the District 5 primary.
Storlie will square off against Bruce Martinson, who garnered 150 votes to finish second, in the general election.
Don McKeever was right behind Martinson with 145 votes and Bruce Zimpel finished with 27. Storlie defeated Martinson by eight votes in the last election to win the District 5 commissioner seat.
In something of a surprise, former Grand Marais city councilor Dave Mills, who recently moved out of the city, tallied 189 votes and will face Mickey Brazell in the general election. Brazell, a longtime District 3 resident, received 159 votes to beat out one-time county commissioner Jean Marie Modl, who collected 117 votes. Current county commissioner Jan Sivertson, who represents District 3, elected not to run to retain her seat.
In Grand Marais, August 14 was the last day to sign up to run for various offices. Incumbent mayor Jay Arrowsmith-DeCoux will be challenged by Ray Pederson in the November 6 election.
In a special election for city council, Jonathan Steckelberg will face Carl (Petey) Gresczyk.
Local businessman Craig Schulte signed up to run for one of two council spots now held by councilors Kelly Swearingen and Anton Moody, who also elected to run again. The top two vote-getters will be awarded positions on the council.
In the District 3 race for the I.S.D. 166 school board, Rena Rogers will run against Steven Nielson. Deb White, in District 1, and Dan Shirley in District 5, will be unopposed.
No one signed up to run for the District 3 North Shore Hospital board seat. Meanwhile, Sharon Bloomquist in District 1 and Randy Wiitala in District 5 face no opposition in their districts.
Garnering 44 percent of the vote, Joe Radinovich easily won the five-way primary to decide the 8th Congressional District Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate.
Meanwhile, GOP winner Pete Stauber and independent candidate Ray (Skip) Sandman will face Radinovich to see who will represent the 8th district in Congress.
In the race to select gubernatorial candidates, Jeff Johnson (GOP) upended Tim Pawlenty’s attempt to win back the governor seat he held at one time for two terms, and Tim Walz (DFL) defeated Erin Murphy and attorney general, Lori Swanson.
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