The primary election Tuesday isn’t just for sorting out partisan races for Congress or the Legislature. Ballots across the Twin Cities will also include primary contests for several local races, including seats on school boards, city councils and county boards.

The results will determine which candidates will advance to the general election in November. Only races with more than two candidates, or more than twice the number of candidates as open seats, will appear on the primary ballot.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and Minnesotans can register to vote in person at their polling place.

Here are a some of the local races to watch on Tuesday. A complete listing of candidates is online at startribune.com.

School board Vice Chair Kim Ellison is seeking re-election to an at-large seat in a three-person primary race and is running with the DFL party endorsement.

She faces challenges from Elena Condos, a PTA member at Lake Nokomis Community School who ran unsuccessfully for the District 5 school board seat in 2022, and Shayla Owodunni, a preschool tutor at Pillsbury Elementary in northeast Minneapolis.

The district is grappling with persistent enrollment declines and budget deficits. A “district transformation process” that may include closing or merging schools awaits.

Ellison said she is excited to work with Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams and brings history and experience to a “young board that needs to make big decisions in a short amount of time.”

Condos said her family has lived with the frustrations of recent budget cuts. Her daughter’s fifth-grade class is expected to have 35 students this fall, she said. Lower class sizes should be a priority, she added, and she would look to make it happen through strategies that include reducing contracted services.

Owodunni said that she opposes the idea of closing schools, saying it opens the “Pandora’s box” of families potentially leaving the district. District spending deserves closer scrutiny, she said, with resources more closely aligned to the district’s strategic goals and academic priorities.

In Anoka County, there are primary races for two seats on the County Board.

In District 1, which encompasses St. Francis, most of Anoka, Nowthen and Ramsey, Betsy O’Berry, Andre Champagne and John Heinrich are vying for the seat.

Heinrich, a former state representative, said that experience taught him how to engage with legislators in St. Paul.

“I’ve always been somebody who was able to work with everybody,” he said.

O’Berry, a retired CPA who has also owned a small business, said she’s running to help the community.

“Probably the most important thing is to be forward-thinking,” she said.

Champagne, who manages a digital forensics lab, said his previous job working for Anoka County would help him with one of his priorities — reforming county operations.

“I will be able to identify issues the other commissioners haven’t identified,” he said in an email.

The race in District 5, covering Andover and part of Coon Rapids, also has three candidates: Randy Nelson, Tracy Strombeck and incumbent Mike Gamache. Gamache, first elected in 2014, is retired and a former mayor of Andover, while Strombeck owns a manufacturing business and Nelson is a physician assistant.

Two spots on the Carver County Board are up for grabs.

Three candidates – Lisa Anderson, Greg Boe and Bala Chintaginjala — are competing to represent District 1, which encompasses part of Chanhassen and Chaska.

In District 3, incumbent Matt Udermann will take on John Peter Mihajlov and Gary van Eyll. The district covers part of Chaska and Victoria.

There’s just one seat on the primary ballot in Dakota County, where Liz Workman, who has served on the Dakota County Board since 2009, faces three competitors in District 5, which covers Burnsville. The others vying for the seat are Phillip Sterner, Bruce Johnson and Yusuf Haji.

The Washington County Board will see a new face representing District 3 next year.

There is no incumbent in the race, and four people — Bethany Cox, Scott Junker, Michael Schultz and Mark Wiens — are running to represent the large district that covers Stillwater, Afton and Lake Elmo, along with several other cities and townships.

Three of seven faces on the Ramsey County Board will be new in 2025.

The field for just one of those seats — District 7, covering Maplewood, North St. Paul and White Bear Lake — will be narrowed Tuesday in the primary. Kevin Berglund, Kelly Miller, Sarah Yang and Michelle Yener are competing for the spot.

The race for Northfield mayor features a crowded field of candidates weighing in on several issues, from commercial development to property taxes.

Incumbent Rhonda Pownell, the mayor since 2016, is competing against six others: Timothy Babbini, Ruth Dahl, Adam Gebler, Michael Kirschling, and two sitting City Council members, George Zuccolotto and Erica Zweifel.

Three people are campaigning to serve as mayor in South St. Paul, where incumbent Jimmy Francis, a benefits adviser for an insurance agency who took office in 2017, is running against teacher Mark Westpfahl and restaurateur Eddie Wu.

Francis said his campaign is emphasizing “continued functional government,” adding that two important issues include economic development and protecting the city’s water supply. Bringing new commercial businesses to town “will be the engine for us moving forward,” he said.

Westpfahl said he encourages middle school students to get involved; doing so has made him want to serve, too.

He wants to see the city collaborate more with other levels of government, seek out partnerships and plan ahead for big projects — like replacing the city pool — so they’re not overwhelming to fund. The city needs to be “more proactive than reactive,” he said.

Wu, who owns the Korean restaurant Juche in St. Paul, said he and his wife have been “deliberately infusing ourselves in the community,” working with local leaders and legislators.

He wants to see more energy in the increasingly diverse South St. Paul, along with new businesses like restaurants and a pharmacy. People should feel like city government is there for them, he said.

Star Tribune staff writer Greta Kaul contributed to this report.