URBANA — Champaign County voters, both Republicans and Democrats, are guaranteed at least one countywide primary election contest in March.

Candidate filing opened Monday morning, and Democrats will have at least two contested primaries, one for county auditor and another for circuit court clerk. Republicans have a primary race for circuit court clerk.

Candidate filing continues through next Monday, Dec. 5. The primary election will be Tuesday, March 20.

Among auditor candidates, Democrats George Danos of Champaign and Kevin Sandefur of Royal both filed at 8 a.m. Monday. A drawing will be held Dec. 13 to determine who appears first on the ballot. A third Democratic candidate for auditor, Ben Carlson of Champaign, said Monday that he will be filing his nominating petitions later this week.

"We'll do it in the next day or so," said Carlson.

The incumbent auditor, Tony Fabri, is not expected to run for reelection. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

Three other Democrats, Evelyn Underwood, Lori Hansen and Barbara Wysocki, all of Urbana, filed to run for circuit court clerk.

The incumbent circuit clerk, Republican Linda Frank, announced earlier this year that she would not run for re-election.

Two Republicans also filed for the office Monday morning, Stephanie Holderfield of Mahomet and former state Sen. Rick Winkel of Urbana. Holderfield filed her own petitions; Winkel's were filed by Champaign City Council member Deborah Frank Feinen, who also filed the petitions for fellow Republicans Gordy Hulten for county clerk, John Farney for auditor, Duane Northrup for coroner and Barbara Frasca for recorder of deeds.

"It's been a lot of fun" gathering petition signatures, Holderfield said. "I went to lots of clubs, met so many different people. I've got a tremendous amount of support, some nice sign locations. We've had a good time."

Holderfield said she continues to raise money for her campaign and would go door-to-door through the winter.

"Whatever it takes to win this seat, you bet," she said. "They say I'm a scrapper."

Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz, a Democrat, filed for a third term.

No Republicans filed for state's attorney and no Democrats filed for county clerk, coroner or recorder of deeds.

Sixteen people filed to run for county board, including four newcomers. The county board will change next year as its numbers are reduced from 27 members to 22. There will be two seats for each of 11 districts, as opposed to the current three seats for each of nine districts.

The four newcomers who filed Monday are Republicans Gerald W. Smith of Mahomet in District 1, Jim McGuire of Champaign in District 4, Jeff Kibler of Champaign in District 5, and Democrat Brent West of Champaign in District 11.

The full list of county board candidates to file Monday, by district:

District 1 (northwest Champaign County, including Mahomet and Fisher): Republicans Gary Maxwell, John Jay and Smith.

District 2 (northern Champaign County, including Rantoul and Gifford): Republican Stan James.

District 3 (eastern and southeastern Champaign County, including St. Joseph, Ogden, Philo and Homer): Republican Aaron Esry.

District 4 (southwestern Champaign County including Tolono, Sadorus and parts of Savoy and Champaign): Republicans Jonathan Schroeder and McGuire.

District 5 (west Champaign and nearby unincorporated areas): Republican Kibler.

District 6 (northwest Champaign): Democrat Pattsi Petrie.

District 7 (south Champaign): Democrat Alan Kurtz.

District 8 (central Champaign): Democrat Giraldo Rosales.

District 9 (Savoy, southern Champaign and southern and western Urbana): Democrats Ralph Langenheim and Astrid Berkson.

District 10 (most of Urbana): Democrats Christopher Alix and James Quisenberry.

District 11 (northern Champaign and Urbana): Democrat West.