BOISE - The two candidates running to be Idaho's next chief of elections had their first face-off Monday, with each promising to leave their partisan politics at the door if elected.

Republican state Rep. Lawerence Denney, of Midvale, focused on his nearly 20 years of political experience - including serving as speaker of the House and majority leader - during the debate in Boise.

"I served as speaker of the House for the whole House, not just my caucus," Denney said. "When I was replaced, the first person to stand up and ask our colleagues to recognize my service was the minority leader. I think I had a good relationship with the minority party. I think there are very few places you can have partisanship in this office."

Denney's Democratic opponent, state Rep. Holli Woodings, of Boise, said she will improve voter access and registration. Woodings has served one term in the Idaho Legislature and is a small-business owner.

"There is no room for partisanship in this office," Woodings said. "My opponent? He was ousted by his caucus when he was House speaker. I believe that's because he showed a lot of partisanship. I think we both have history, but I think my history shows a lot more of working across the aisle."

The two candidates are vying to be Idaho's next secretary of state, which would require the winner to oversee Idaho's election process and business registrations. The secretary of state also serves on the five-member Idaho Land Board, which oversees 2.5 million acres of Idaho land to benefit state public schools.

This is the first time in nearly 50 years Idaho voters won't be given the option on the November ballot to choose Ben Ysursa, who is the incumbent, or Pete Cenarrusa, who served seven terms and was Idaho's longest serving secretary.

Both Denney and Woodings acknowledged they want to maintain the former election chief's legacy of promoting open and easily accessible elections. However, Denney differed from his opponent by maintaining his support of the Republican closed primary system which was implemented under Denney's leadership in 2011.

He added that the secretary of state shouldn't oversee primary elections but would rather like to see each political party manage candidate nominees.

"I think it's important that Republicans nominate Republican candidates and that Democrats nominate Democratic candidates," Denney said. "I think there could be a process that's a lot better now."

Woodings said her first priority if elected would be updating the secretary's website and making the information, such as lobbyist data and campaign expenditures, easier to navigate.

"I want to update the office to a place where people can access the tremendous amount of information at that office and to continue the legacy of fairness. I think those are things closely intermingled and all incredibly important," she said.

Denney and Woodings plan to participate in two more debates later this week.