State and federal candidates are heading into the final hours of the campaign for support in party primaries on Tuesday. A Des Moines Register “Iowa Poll” released Saturday night found Joni Ernst had the support of 36 percent likely voters in the race of the Iowa G-O-P’s U.S. Senate nomination. Ernst led competitors Mark Jacobs, Matt Whitaker, Sam Clovis and Scott Schaben by double-digits. The poll also found 16 percent of voters hadn’t picked a candidate. University of Iowa political science professor Tim Hagle says since primary elections attract just a fraction of those who vote in a presidential election, many of those undecided voters may wind up staying home.

“So it’s really a little bit hard to say and we just have to wait and see — and I’m certainly not to going try to make any prediction as far as what’s going to happen,” Hagle says, with a laugh. “It would seem that Ernst is the best position to potentially get to that magic 35 percent.” A candidate in any party primary in Iowa must get at least 35 percent to win the nomination. It that doesn’t happen, delegates at a nomination convention decide whose name will be on November’s ballot.

“Convention delegates often give a lot of deference to who actually was the top vote-getter in the primary,” Hagle says. And that was the case in Iowa’s last nomination convention, when Republican delegates in what was then Iowa’s fifth congressional district chose Steve King as their nominee. King, who won the nominating convention after three rounds of voting, finished the primary with just under 30 percent of the votes cast.

There are also primaries this Tuesday in three of Iowa’s four congressional districts. Congressman Bruce Braley has no opposition in the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate primary. The seat has been held by Democrat Tom Harkin for three decades. Since Braley’s U.S. House seat is open, five Democrat and three Republicans have been traversing northeast Iowa’s first district, hoping to cross the 35 percent threshhold to win their party primaries. Republican Congressman Tom Latham announced in December he would not seek reelection.

Two Democrats and a half dozen Republicans are competing to run in Latham’s southwest district. In the second congressional district in southeast Iowa, two candidates are competing for the Republican nomination and the chance to face-off against Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack in November. Among the 23 candidates running in Iowa’s senate or congressional primaries this year, six are women. Dianne Bystrom is director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University.

“And I think it’s exciting from the fact that Iowa has never sent a woman to congress. I think we’ve got a lot of women this year who are viable candidates and I’m as optimistic as I’ve ever been that we will send a woman to congress this year,” Bystrom says. The polls open at 7 a.m.for Tuesday’s primary voting and close at 9 p.m.

(Radio Iowa)

Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in the Primary Election, but turnout isn’t expected to be all that great, because there typically isn’t as much interest as during the presidential election cycle. The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office doesn’t release projections of voter turnout. The polls will be open from 7-a.m. until 9-p.m.

Republicans will consider Iowa a possible pickup for the U.S. Senate seat in November. Senator Joni Ernst is the top contender in the GOP primary. The winner of the five-candidate race Tuesday will face in U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley in November. Braley is unopposed in the Democratic primary. That victor will replace longtime Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin. Besides the Senate race, the top primary contest in western Iowa is for the 3rd District Congressional seat, which represents southwest Iowa and includes Council Bluffs as well as much of the Des Moines area. Staci Appel will be the Democratic nominee, and the district has a crowded field of GOP hopefuls. If no candidate gets at least 35 percent of the vote, the Republican 3rd District nomination will be settled at a special convention.

Other races to watch include in State Senate District 11, where GOP candidates Art Hill and Tom Shipley are running to replace incumbent Hubert Houser, who is retiring. No Democrat is running in the district, which includes most of Pottawattamie County, all of Adams and Union Counties and part of Cass County.

Positions set to appear on the Cass County ballot for the 2014 Primary Election include: The Board of Supervisors positions in Districts 2 and 3; County Attorney; County Recorder and County Treasurer. Recorder Joyce Jensen is not running for re-election. Those vying for her position include: Republicans Mary Ward, Jess Ehrman, Shelly Glynn and Delbert Thurman, all from Atlantic. Cass County Attorney Dan Feistner faces a challenge in the Primary from Attorney Dave Wiederstein, an Audubon native who has lived in Atlantic since 2007. In Adair County, District 4 Supervisor Cliff Sheriff faces a challenge from fellow Republican Brian Rohrig.

In Adams County, there is a Republican race for Supervisor in District 4, with Kevin Olson and Leland Shipley the contenders. There are no contested Primary races in Audubon County. In Guthrie County, there is a race for the Board of Supervisors in District 2, where Republicans Clifford Carney and Todd Hambleton look to square off in November against Democrat Kerry Sheeder. There is also a Republican challenge between Bruce Lauritsen and Thomas Rutledge for the District 4 seat on the Guthrie County Board of Supervisors.

In Montgomery County: Incumbent Steven D. Ratchliff faces a challenge from fellow Republican Steven J. Berendes, in District 1. In District 2, incumbent Republican Karen Blue faces a challenge from Republican Joshua A. Wiig. And in District 4, Incumbent Republican Supervisor Randall Tye faces a challenge from two men: Republicans Brian Coughlin and Mark L. Peterson.

In Shelby County, the contested race will be for county recorder. Three republican candidates, Geralyn Greer, Renee Hansen and Colleen Oliver are running as well as two democrats Jessica Gessert and Larry Wendt. Current county supervisor Roger Schmitz, County Attorney Marcus Gross Jr. and County Treasurer Carolyn Blum all will be running unopposed.

Seven men, all Republicans, will seek three seats on the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors. The seven board candidates include three incumbents: Scott Belt, Lynn Leaders and Loren Knauss. The four other candidates are Justin Schultz, Tim Wichman, Steve Leaders and Brian Lund. There is also a Republican race for Pott. County Recorder, between Mark Brandenburg and Bill White.