“One-stop” early voting for North Carolina’s March 3 primary, in which candidates for the U.S. presidency, the U.S. Senate, and the N.C. governor and lieutenant governor, will be vying for their party’s nomination, starts today at 8 a.m. and runs weekdays through Feb. 29.
Voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at three locations: the Kill Devil Hills Town Hall, the Dare County Board of Elections Office in Manteo, and Fessenden Annex in Bauton. There will be no voting on the weekends of Feb. 15-16 and Feb. 22-23, and polls will close at 3 p.m. on Sat., Feb. 29.
Besides the top N.C. executive positions, there are candidates running for N.C. Attorney General, N.C. Secretary of State, N.C. Treasurer, and other state offices, but your opportunity to vote for any of them depends on your political party affiliation or, if you are unaffiliated, on which primary you choose. Some party candidates in the November election—such as incumbent N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat—have already been declared because they have no primary opposition. (See sample ballots below.)
ON THE LOCAL LEVEL, Republicans—and unaffiliated voters who choose to vote in the Republican primary—will have the opportunity to vote for either Rob Rollason of Kill Devil Hills or incumbent Bobby Hanig of Powells Point in District 6 of the N.C. House of Representatives and for either Paul Wright or incumbent Steve House in District 3 of the Dare County Board of Commissioners.
District 3 represents Duck, Southern Shores, and Kitty Hawk. Mr. House lives in Southern Shores, and Mr. Wright lives in Kitty Hawk.
The Democratic candidate for District 6 of the N.C. House is Tommy Fulcher of Southern Shores. Mr. Fulcher is the husband of Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey, who was elected to the Southern Shores Town Council last November. Mr. Fulcher and Ms. Morey are political consultants who have worked on local Democrats’ campaigns.
Democrat Kathy McCullough-Testa of Southern Shores will face the winner of the GOP primary for the District 3-Dare County Board seat in November.
Three other seats on the seven-member county Board of Commissioners are up for election this year, but only one is being contested.
Board chairman and District 2 Republican Robert Woodard will face Democrat Amanda Hooper Walters of Kill Devil Hills in November. Neither faces primary opposition.
Both District 1 commissioner Wally Overman of Manteo, a Republican, and District 4 commissioner Danny Couch of Buxton, a Democrat, are running unopposed.
Democrat Tess Judge of Kitty Hawk will challenge Republican State Senator Bob Steinburg of Edenton in November for his N.C. Senate seat. Mrs. Judge previously ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for Mr. Hanig’s House seat.
There will be partisan races for seats on the Dare County Board of Education this year, but no primaries.
N.C. HAS SEMI-CLOSED PRIMARY
North Carolina has a semi-closed primary system. Voters who have declared a party affiliation may vote only in their party’s primary. Unaffiliated voters may vote in a particular party’s primary only if the party authorizes them to do so. The Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties have given unaffiliated voters permission to vote in their primaries, but the Green and Constitution parties have not.
The deadline for changing party affiliation for the primary election has passed. It was Feb. 7.
You may register to vote during the one-stop early voting period in a process known as same-day registration. You must meet legal requirements for voting eligibility and have proof of county residency.
You will not be required to show a photo ID for the primary. A lower federal court ruling has prevented North Carolina’s photo ID law from taking effect.
For more information about the early voting schedule, see: https://www.darenc.com/departments/elections/one-stop-absentee-early-voting
For more information about the primary election, see: https://www.darenc.com/departments/elections/election-information/-curm-3/-cury-2020
SAMPLE BALLOTS:
Democratic: https://www.darenc.com/home/showdocument?id=6008
Republican: https://www.darenc.com/home/showdocument?id=6014
Libertarian: https://www.darenc.com/home/showdocument?id=6012
Green: https://www.darenc.com/home/showdocument?id=6010
Constitution: https://www.darenc.com/home/showdocument?id=6006
The Southern Shores Town Council’s regular monthly meeting will be held Wed., March 4, at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 2/13/20
The Southern Shores Beacon 