Primary elections will be needed for both Democratic and Republican races for the Polk County Board of Commissioner election next year.

Filing ended Monday, Dec. 21 with a total of five Republican candidates filing for county commissioner and four Democratic candidates filing.

Any number over three for each party requires a primary election to narrow each party to three candidates.

There will also be one race in November for the Polk County School Board’s White Oak Township representative. No primary is held for school board no matter how many candidates file.

Polk County Registrar of Deeds Sheila Whitmire (R) will run unopposed next year as no challengers filed for her seat.

The last day of filing saw Rhonda Lewis (D), Kim Pack (D), Russell Mierop (D), Josh Denton (R) and Tommy Melton (R) join the race for county commissioner.

The latest to file will join Jake Johnson (R), Myron Yoder (R), John Dennis Hill (R) and Penny Padgett (D) for three open commissioner seats.

This is the first year in many that no incumbent commissioner filed to run for re-election. The seats open next year are those of Michael Gage (R), Keith Holbert (R) and Tom Pack (R) with none of them seeking re-election.

There are three open seats on the Polk County Board of Education with incumbents Rhonda Corley – Saluda Township, Rick Covil – Tryon Township and Cindy Allen -White Oak Township all filing for re-election as well as Kevin Seay who is challenging Allen’s White Oak seat. School board candidates run non-partisan races.

The U.S. House of Representative District 10 seat is also up for re-election with incumbent congressman Patrick McHenry (R) filing for re-election and Polk County resident Andy Millard (D) filing to challenge the seat as well as Albert L. Wiley Jr. (R), who will challenge McHenry in the primary.

The U.S. House of Representatives 10th district includes the counties of Rutherford, Polk, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln and Catawba as well as part of Buncombe County, including the City of Asheville.

The primary election will be held on March 15, 2016 with the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016.