YOUR VOICE, YOUR VOTE: Tracking St. Joseph County sheriff primary election

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Three men are vying for the spot of top cop in St. Joseph County.

But Tuesday's primary is consequential for the two Democrats running, because it determines who moves on to the November general election.

South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski is running and says he feels he did his due diligence at the South Bend Police Department and now he can take his skills to the county level because he "can't give up police work."

"Concentrated first and foremost on our community, the most important call we'll ever be on is the one we're on. Once we have that established, they can take it from there," said Ruszkowski.

He faces Earl Wigfall, a St. Joseph County Police Department lieutenant and former training commander.

He says he has the experience and the skillset to keep the department on the right path, where he would continue to push training, crisis response, and jail staffing.

Wigfall said, "With me I'm ready on day one because I've worked in all those divisions...Well my first priority would be to take care of the jail because that's the sheriff's number one responsibility."

Whoever wins today's primary faces Republican Rod Laureys this November.

Laureys has been with SJCPD for 15 years and says the department has lost the public's trust and the trust of field officers. He says he would be the one to fix that.