The field is set for county elections in Sarasota and Manatee counties, where a number of write-in candidates ensures closed primaries in several key races.

That includes two Sarasota County Commission races. Only Republicans will be able to vote in a GOP primary in Sarasota County Commission District 1, where Republicans Alexandra Coe and Teresa Mast will face off. The winner will only face write-in opponent Hope Williams, but if she did not qualify, all voters in the county would have been eligible to vote in the primary as it would have formally determined the election outcome.

Write-in candidate Janique Tenney also qualified in Sarasota County Commission District 3, but that carries less relevance. Shari Thornton is already running in November without party affiliation, and will face whoever wins a hotly contested Republican Primary appointed incumbent Commissioner Neil Rainford and for Sheriff Tom Knight. No Democrats filed for either seat.

In Manatee County, Republicans Carol Ann Felts and Steve Metallo face each other in a Primary for an open County Commission District 1 seat, with the winner headed to battle Democrat Glenn Pearson and independent Jen Hamey. Meanwhile, two Republicans, April Culbreath and Tal Siddique, are running for a District 3 seat, where the winner will face Diana Shoemaker. Write-in Jeffrey Gray also qualified but does not close any primaries. In a District 5 commission contest, incumbent Ray Turner faces a Republican primary challenge from Robert McCann, with independent Joseph Di Bartolomeo waiting on the November ballot.

But the big County Commission contest in Manatee will be an at-large seat, where outgoing District 3 Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge qualified to challenge at-large Commissioner George Kruse in a GOP Primary rather than running for his old seat. The winner of that August race will go on to face Democrat Sari Lindroos Valimaki. Write-in Nathan Meyer also qualified.

A more consequential write-in, Travis Casper qualified and closed a Republican primary between Darin George and incumbent Manatee Property Appraiser Charles Hackney. And write-in Thomas Dell shut down a Republican Primary where appointed Manatee Supervisor of Elections James Satcher faces a Republican Primary challenge from Scott Farrington.

A partisan showdown will take place in Sarasota County in November, where long-time Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates, a Democrat, faces a challenge from term-limited County Commissioner Mike Moran, a Republican. Moran must first get through a Republican primary with GOP candidate Charles Bear, who also qualified for the countywide race.

Less immediately obvious in consequence, but write-in candidates filed for every Sarasota County Hospital Board seat as well. But Democrats qualified in every seat as well. The following candidates qualified to have their names appear of the ballot: in at-large Seat 1, Republican Sharon DePeters and Tamzin Rosenwasser and Democrat Alan Sprintz; in at-large Seat 2, Kevin Cooper and Stephen Guffanti and Democrat John Lutz; in at-large Seat 3, Pamela Beitlich and Mary Flynn O’Neill and Democrat George Davis; and in District Seat 1, Republicans Sarah Lodge and Tanya Parus and Democrat Vicki Lynn Nighswander.

Candidates also qualified in nonpartisan School Board races in both counties. In Sarasota County, District 2 incumbent Karen faces a challenge from Liz Barker. In District 3, incumbent Tom Edwards faces two challengers, Thomas Babicz and Gregory Wood. In Manatee County, two seats are open. In District 1, Heather Felton, Alex Garner and Mark Stanoch all qualified to run. In District 3, Charles Kennedy, Jonathan Lynch and Perri Ann Parkman will appear on the ballot. School Board races will appear on the Aug. 20 ballot, with runoffs in November if needed.

The candidate qualification deadline marked the end of the election season for several elected officials in Sarasota County, who won re-election without any opposition. In Sarasota County, several constitutional officers won election unopposed, including Clark of Court Karen Rushing, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, Property Appraiser Bill Furst and Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner. County Commissioner Ron Cutsinger, who represents District 5, also won a second term without opposition. All were Republicans. In Manatee County, Clerk of Court Angel Colonneso and Sheriff Rick Wells, both Republicans, won without opposition.