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Wilson County residents who want to vote in their county mayors race and a number of other seats will need to cast Republican ballots in the May 3 primary.

Incumbent Randall Hutto and challenger Phillip Warren are running for mayor, both as Republicanswith no Democratic or independent challenger.

Circuit court clerk and several county commission seats are among other contests with only GOP candidates as early voting for the primary begins Wednesday and continues through April 28.

There is only oneDemocratic candidate in the local primary, Belita McMurray-Fite, who is running for an at-large Lebanon Special School District seat.

Wilson County has a handful of independent candidates qualifying for select seats. Independents are not part of the May 3 ballot but will face Republican and Democratic nominees for those respective seats on Aug. 4.

More: Meet the Wilson County primary candidates and your vote now is vital. Early voting starts April 13

The primary leaves area Democrats in an odd place, Bobby Francis of the Wilson County Democratic Party Executive Committee Chair said. I only vote Democrat.

Tennessee is an open primary state.

State law to vote in the primary includes:

Or:

Closed primaries, which require a voter to be a registered party member, would needlegislative action.

We encourage all citizens to exercise their right to vote at every possible opportunity, including the Republican Primary on May 3, Wilson County Republican Party Chair Brad Lytle said. We do have concerns about illicit crossover voting in our open primaries, and we encourage our legislators to consider closed primaries, limiting them to only those who are registered in the appropriate party.

Both Wilson Countys Democratic and Republican parties called for primaries to precede the county general election in August. Primaries have occurred in Wilson County, but have been infrequent overseveral decades in the county.

Francis believes intimidation stopped potential Democratic candidates from running for local seats.Francis believes the landscape under Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Hendrell Remus is changing.

Early voting and election day voting centers will have signs and poll workers to guide voters to look at the sample ballots, Wilson County Administrator of Elections Tammy Smith said.

Voters can change their mind on party affiliation after they request a ballot, but the ballot is final once it goes through the tabulator, Smith said.

The primary has no certified write-in candidates eligible to be counted in the upcoming primary, Smith said. Write-in candidates had to be certified by noon, March 14.

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or615-726-5939 and on Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

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Is voting for Wilson County mayor and multiple other races for Republicans only? - Tennessean