NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
Tennesseans will take to the polls Thursday to determine which congressional candidates make the ballot in November and who actually wins the county races.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 7 p.m. in most counties.
In the primary, Republican Senator Bob Corker's seat is up for grabs. Senator Corker is of course running for re-election.
Locally, Democrat Rep. Jim Cooper is running unopposed for his party's nomination and so is Republican Marsha Blackburn.
Several state House and Senate seats are also on the ballot. Thursday's winners will move onto the ballot in November.
Locally, in Davidson County, Metro School Board seats are up for grabs. Seventeen candidates are vying for five contested seats.
The stakes are high as the next board will decide the future of schools' director Dr. Jesse Register, whose contract is up in 2015.
Another race high on the radar is in Rutherford County where Property Assessor Bill Boner is trying to keep his seat after facing allegations of sexual harassment.
In the heavily Republican Nashville suburb of Hendersonville in Sumner County, two races are driving people to the polls.
Both involve challenges to incumbent Republicans from members of their own party.
One involves a rematch of the 2010 Tennessee 6th District congressional primary where Diane Black eked out a narrow win over Lou Ann Zelenik before easily winning the general election in November.
The other race pits Tennessee House Republican Caucus chair Debra Maggart against retired Air Force Lt. Col. Courtney Rogers.
Maggart fell into disfavor with Second Amendment advocates when she joined other Republican legislative leaders including Governor Bill Haslam in opposition to a bill allowing gun owners to have a weapon in their car at workplaces.
The gun lobby led by the National Rifle Association pumped more than $75,000 into the campaign of Rogers.
The Black-Zelenik rematch has been a bitter campaign as well with accusations of lies on both sides waged in a recent barrage of political ads.
Zelenik claimed Black cast budget votes that cast doubt on her opposition to President Obama's health care law and reducing the national debt.
Black's campaign fired back that those claims were "delusional" and countered that Zelenik didn't really live in the district and even supported a tax increase.
"More lies," retorted the Zelenik campaign.
It's now left to the tens of thousands of voters in Sumner County Thursday to sort through all the highly charged rhetoric and make a decision.
Most analysts believe both races will be tight.
Also in Sumner County, election officials in Sumner County received complaints from voters regarding issues with voting technology shortly after the ballots opened.
There were also complaints at the Smyrna Elementary polling location in Rutherford County.
One voter said they were unable to enter the building at 7 a.m. and other voters were lined up waiting to get inside.
According to officials, some necessary voting supplies were not dropped off with the polling boxes and they delayed voters from entering the precinct. Voters were allowed inside shortly after.
Voters are reminded to bring government-issued photo identification.
Anyone with questions can call 1-877-850-4959.
Click here for complete election coverage and up-to-the-minute results when the polls close.
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