Thostenson, Skorczewski win school board spots; Jeff Buysse, Van Keulen re-elected.

Election officials were expecting presidential-level turnout after the August primary drew the highest primary turnout since 1994.

Hundreds of thousands of voters have already marked their ballots. Election officials say nearly 540,000 Minnesotans have cast early votes since September when the window opened. That nearly matches the early general election turnout in 2016.

Minneota's School Board had six candidates for four positions.

With ALL precincts reporting, Abby Thostenson and Tom Skorczewski, newcomers to the race, won election to the board. Incumbent Jeff Buysse was the top vote getter with incumbent Dawn Van Keulen in third at 643.

Incumbents Larry Buysse and Doug Spanton lost their bids to be returned to the school board.

Here's the final votes:

Jeff Buysse (inc)              738

Abby Thostenson             682

Dawn VanKeulen (Inc)     643

Tom Skorczewski             590

Doug Spanton (inc)         505

Larry Buysse (inc)           474

      Total votes:               4,256

In Minneota, John Rolbiecki has been re-elected mayor without opposition. He got 98 percent of the vote with 542 votes out of 584 total votes.

In the city council races incumbent Tim Koppien got 51 percent and Nancy Reisdorfer 46 percent. Both were elected without competition.

Koppien        448

Reisdorfer    404

Total votes 1,168

In Ghent, of the 225 registered voters,162 voted. They re-elected incumbent Mayor Ron Sussner.

Sussner              136

Write-in               14

  Total                  162

In Ghent, Adam DeRoode and Jeffrey Gruhot were elected to council seats. Here are the votes:

DeRoode             101

Gruhot                 80

Ted DeRoode      66

Jordy Beek          50

In Taunton, of the 79 registered voters, 66 voted. They re-elected incumbent Mayor Mike Breyfogle.

Breyfogle            56

Write-in               8

other                   2

Total                   66

Taunton City Council seats were not contested with Jim Pesch getting 55 votes and Ryan Buysse 51. There were eight write-ins.

In Representative District 16, (in Lyon County only) incumbent Chris Swedzinski deeated DFL challenger Tom Wyatt Yerka, 65 to 34 percent with all precincts reporting.

Swedzinski         5,191

Yerka                 2,724

Total votes         8,002

County Commissioner

In District 2, incumbent Steve Ritter won re-election with 64 to 35 percent of the vote over challenger Al Kruse. Both precincts have been reported.

Ritter                  1,362

Kruse                 741

Total votes         2,233

In District 3, Paul Graupmann was running unopossed and won with 1,606 votes with all three precincts reporting.

IN STATE races, in Lyon County only:

With 33 of 33 precincts report precincts the races are, in Lyon County:

Senator (2-year-term)

Karin Housely 55% 5,472 votes

Tina Smith      40% 4,027 votes

Senator (6-year-term)

Jim Newberger    47%  4,700 votes

Amy Klobuchar    49%  4,972 votes

US Representative District 7

Dave Hughes      48%  4,821 votes

Collin Peterson   51%   5,115 votes

Governor (32 of 33 precincts reporting)

Jeff Johnson        54%  5,468 votes

Tim Walz             41%  4,143 votes

Attorney General

Doug Wardlow    58%  5,788 votes

Keith Ellison       35%   3,547 votes

For Lyon County Sheriff, Eric Wallen got 67 percent of the vote

Jim Marshall, who pulled out of the race had 30 percent of the vote after with all 33 precincts reporting.

Wallen     6,491

Marshall  2,877

IN THE LINCOLN COUNTY Sheriff's race, incumbent Chad Meester beat challenger Nathan Nafziger, 52 to 48 percent.

The votes were:

Meester    1,249 votes

Nafziger    1,155 votes