Sandwiched in between the excitement of the January presidential caucus and the November general election, the Iowa primary election is just days away.

The primary election in which Democratic and Republican voters will pick their party’s nominees for the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, the state Legislature and county offices is Tuesday.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate sent every registered voter an absentee ballot request form, which had to be returned by May 22 in order to receive an absentee ballot. Those ballots must be postmarked by Monday.

Absentee voting can be done from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at the Department of Human Services building, 330 First Ave. N.

Voting will be conducted from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday.

But because of the pandemic, not every polling place will be open. Just three polling places in Webster County will be available. They are Fort Dodge Senior High School, 819 N. 25th St.; the Webster County Fairgrounds on Old Highway 169 and Iowa Central Community College.

Voters from these precincts will vote at Fort Dodge Senior High School: Badger/Northwest Cooper, Colfax/Duncombe, Cooper, Fort Dodge No. 1, Fort Dodge No. 8, Fort Dodge No. 9, Fort Dodge No. 10, Fort Dodge No. 11, Fort Dodge No. 12, and Newark.

Voters from these precincts will vote at the Webster County Fairgrounds: Clay/Roland, Dayton/Burnside, Elkhorn, Fulton, Gowrie, Lost Grove, Otho/Pleasant Valley, Sumner/Webster/Yell and Washington.

Voters from these precincts will vote at Iowa Central Community College: Deer Creek/Jackson, Douglas, Fort Dodge No.2, Fort Dodge No. 3, Fort Dodge No. 4, Fort Dodge No. 5, Fort Dodge No. 6, Fort Dodge No. 7 and Johnson.

Here are some of the key races.

U.S. Senate

Democratic: Michael Franken, Kimberly Graham, Theresa Greenfield, Eddie Mauro, Cal Woods

Republican: Sen. Joni Ernst

Fourth Congressional District

Democratic: JD Scholten

Republican: state Sen. Randy Feenstra, U.S. Rep. Steve King, Steven Reeder, Bret Richards, Jeremy Taylor

Iowa Senate District 24

Democratic: Cynthia Oppedal Paschen, Keith Puntenney

Republican: Boone County Supervisor Chad Behn, Joshua Dyer, Jesse Green, Todd Rasmussen

Iowa House District 9

Democratic: None

Republican: state Rep. Ann Meyer

Iowa House District 10

Democratic: None

Republican: state Rep. Mike Sexton

Webster County Sheriff

Democratic: Deputy Trevir Michehl, Sgt. Tony Walter

Republican: Sgt. Luke Fleener