A farmer, an auto dealer sales consultant and a business owner are challenging the incumbent Republican county commissioners in the May 16 primary.

Joseph Peter King, a self-employed farmer from Valencia; Zachary Scherer, of Chicora, a sales consultant at Mike Kelly Automotive in Penn Township; and Ryan Covert of Chicora, a business owner and Republican Committee member, recently filed their nomination petitions with the county bureau of elections.

Those three Republicans are challenging Republican incumbents Leslie Osche and Kim Geyer for party nominations in the primary.

No Democratic candidates have filed to challenge Democratic Commissioner Kevin Boozel. The deadline to file nomination petitions was March 7.

Nomination papers that independent and minor party candidates must submit are due Aug. 1. Those candidates do not run in the primary.

The field of candidates this year is larger than it was for the 2019 election in which the incumbents were unchallenged, but is smaller than the 2015 election, which had 10 Republican candidates and four Democratic candidates, said Jade Bowers, assistant director of the bureau.

The next important dates for the primary are March 14, the last day to file objections to the petitions; March 15, the day of the casting of lots to determine the order in which the candidates’ name will appear on the ballot; and March 22, the deadline for candidates who filed petitions to withdraw from the primary.

The primary election will be held May 16, and the general election will be Nov. 7. In Butler County, a maximum of two candidates each from the Republican and Democratic parties can advance from the primary election to the general election. Third-party candidates also will be eligible to appear on the ballot.

When the primary is held, the 1,000 registered voters in Saxonburg could be voting in a different location than they did in previous elections.

The Board of Elections announced that the polling place could be changed from Cooper Hall on North Rebecca Street to the South Butler Community Library, 240 W. Main St.

Adam Price, the bureau precinct and poll worker coordinator, said the county commissioners are expected to vote on the change at their March 29 meeting.

He said Cooper Hall has been used as a polling place for some time, but a business has rented it, forcing the bureau to look for a new location.

Saxonburg offered a room in the municipal building, but it is too small, he said.

The library has a large multipurpose room that will serve as the polling place if the commissioners approve the change, Price said.