Early voting in the March 2 primary election ended Friday.

A total of 718 voters had cast ballots by the end of the day Thursday.

The primary elections are scheduled for Tuesday, March 2.

Voters may cast ballots from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day.

Turnout on election day is expected to be higher than usual for non-presidential year election because of the number of locally contested races for county government posts.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Susan Stasny faces two opponents in the Republican primary, Dennis DeWitt and Ken Chesshir. Precinct 2 covers most of the northern section of Bee County.

Ronnie Olivares, commissioner of Precinct 4, which covers most of the southern section of the county, also faces an opponent in the Democratic primary — Porfirio Longoria, who presently serves as road and bridge supervisor for Precinct 4.

The winner of the March primary will face Republican Ken Haggard in the November general election.

Winners of the November general election take office Jan. 1, 2011.

Here are the candidates seeking to fill seats in local county offices:

U.S. Rep. District 15

Rubén Hinojosa, Democrat; Doug “La Perla” Purl, Democrat; Eddie Zamora, Republican; Daniel Garza, Republican; Paul Haring, Libertarian

State Rep. District 35

Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, Democrat; Jose Aliseda, Republican

Judge, 36th judicial district

Mike Welborn, Democrat; Richard Zapata, Democrat; Nathan East, Republican

Bee County Judge

David Silva, Republican; Arnold Medina, Democrat

Commissioner, Pct. 2

Susan Stasny, Republican; Dennis DeWitt, Republican; Kenneth Chesshir, Republican

Commissioner, Pct. 4

Ronnie Olivares, Democrat; Porfirio Longoria, Democrat; Ken Haggard, Republican

District Clerk

Anna Marie Silvas, Democrat; Zenaida Silva, Republican

Justice of the Peace, Pct. 3

Abelardo “Abel” Suniga, Democrat; Patricia L. “Patty” Johnson, Republican

Voters casting ballots in the Republican primary also will have an opportunity to approve four propositions.

Although passage of the propositions is non-binding, voter approval lets others know what new laws Republicans would like to see passed or abolished or what values and ideals are important to Republicans.

Also, passage of similar propositions by Democrats could send the proposal to Texas voters for final approval at a later date.

Proposition 1 – Photo ID. “The Texas Legislature should make it a priority to protect the integrity of our election process by enacting legislation that requires voters to provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the state of Texas.”

Proposition 2 – Controlling government growth. “Every government body is Texas should be required to limit any annual increase in its budget and spending to the combined increase of population and inflation unless it first gets voter approval to exceed the allowed annual growth or in the case of an official emergency.”

Proposition 3 – Cutting Federal Income Taxes. “In addition to aggressively eliminating irresponsible federal spending, Congress should empower American citizens to stimulate the economy by Congress cutting federal income taxes for all federal taxpayers, rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars on so-called economic stimulus.”

Proposition 4 – “The use of the word ‘God,’ prayers and the Ten Commandments should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property.”