By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Shelby County voters will have a chance to cast their ballots for several county, state and national positions during the upcoming March 13 primary elections.

During the election, Republican voters will be able to cast their ballots for the nine Shelby County Commission seats, the county probate judge and two of the Shelby County Board of Education seats.

Republicans Corley Ellis is running unopposed in the District 1 County Commission seat, Tommy Edwards and Earl Cunningham are vying for the District 2 seat, Jon Parker is running unopposed for the District 3 seat, Daniel Acker Sr. is running unopposed for the District 4 seat and Joel Bearden is running unopposed for the District 5 seat.

Larry Dillard and Mike Vest are vying for the District 6 County Commission seat, Lindsey Allison is running unopposed for the District 7 seat, Rick Shepherd is running unopposed for the District 8 seat and Robbie Hayes is running unopposed for the District 9 seat.

Republicans Jim Fuhrmeister and Tim Mitchell are both running for the Shelby County probate judge position.

Lee Doebler and Jimmy Bice are vying for the Place 1 Board of Education seat and Kevin Morris and Steve Martin are both running for the Place 2 seat.

The Republican ballot will also include the U.S. House of Representatives Sixth District race, where Spencer Bachus, Scott Beason, Al Mickle and David Standridge have qualified.

Republicans will also be able to vote for candidates for the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, Place 1 associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and president of the Public Service Commission.

Because no Democrats qualified for the Shelby County races, county Republican Party Chairman Freddy Ard said this election will serve as the de-facto elections for those positions.

“The candidates who win in this election will be the presumptive winners, just because of the strength of Republicans in Shelby County,” Ard said.

Democratic and Republican voters will also be able to cast their votes for one of their party’s presidential candidates. President Barack Obama is running for re-election on the Democratic ticket, and Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are running on the Republican ticket.

Voters will also be able to cast their ballots for presidential delegates in the election. The delegates who are selected will represent their candidate in their party’s respective national convention.

The Democratic ballot will also include the U.S. House of Representatives Sixth District race, where Penny Bailey and William Barnes have qualified.