Early voting for the March 3 primary starts Thursday and continues until Feb. 28 at the Kill Devil Hills Town Hall and the Dare County Administration Building in Manteo.

The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on Saturday, Feb. 28, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dare County-registered voters may vote at either poll location. The Buxton voting site is not open for this election.

There are multiple Republican candidates running for their party’s nomination in multiple elections being contested in the primary, including for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the N.C. House and N.C. Senate, the Dare County Board of Commissioners (two seats), the Dare County Board of Education (one seat), the Dare County Sheriff, and the N.C. Court of Appeals.  

Because Dare County has been split into two districts for the N.C. House of Representatives – District 1 and new District 79—there are two Republican ballots for this primary. They are:

Sample Republican ballot including the House District 1 election (see above): https://www.darenc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/16767/639034833651700000

Sample Republican ballot including the House District 79 election: https://www.darenc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/16761/639034822705400000.

Voters who reside in Southern Shores are still in District 1, as are voters in Duck, a portion of Kitty Hawk, Colington, Manns Harbor, Stumpy Point, and East Lake.

All remaining Dare County voters, including those who reside in a portion of Kitty Hawk, and in Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head, are in District 79.

There are only two contested Democratic primary elections: The most prominent is for U.S. Senate, in which six candidates are running, including former Governor Roy Cooper; the second is a contest for the N.C. Court of Appeals in which two candidates are running. This appellate court seat is a different one from the one on the ballot in the Republican primary.

See Democratic sample ballot: https://www.darenc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/16765/639034831989470000.

There are no Democratic candidates running in the Nov. 4 general election for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 1, which includes Dare County, or for any of the other offices being contested in the Republican primary—except the U.S. Senate and the N.C. Senate—so whoever wins these primaries will take office, assuming no reason for withdrawal.

Democrat Melissa Zehner is running for the N.C. Senate, District 1.

‘UNAFFILIATED’ CAREER EDUCATOR NEEDS SIGNATURES TO BE ON BALLOT

One longtime educator is trying to bring a choice to voters for a seat on the Dare County Board of Education (“BOE”), which has three positions turning over.

Mary Robinson of Kitty Hawk, a former middle and high school teacher, assistant principal, and principal in Virginia, is busy collecting signatures on petitions to secure a nomination in the November general election as an “Unaffiliated Candidate” for the Dare BOE.

Ms. Robinson is vying to compete with Republican Richard Shope for the BOE’s District 3 seat, which represents Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, and Duck. District 3 incumbent Matt Brauer, a Republican, chose not to run for another four-year term.

(Mr. Shope, who formerly was a fourth grade teacher at Kitty Hawk Elementary School, has no Republican challengers in the primary or a Democratic challenger in November.)

Ms. Robinson has been active locally with the Dare Education Fund, including serving on the Board of Directors for six years, 2 ½ years as president. 

To be on the ballot, Ms. Robinson (pictured above) must present the valid signatures of 4 percent of the total number of all registered Dare County voters, as of Jan. 1, 2026, to the Dare County Board of Elections by noon March 3, Primary Day.

This percentage computes to about 1300 ink signatures, according to Ms. Robinson’s campaign  workers, who are collecting signatures on petitions door-to-door and at the Island Bookstore, 3712 N. Croatan Hwy., in Kitty Hawk. (The bookstore is in the shopping strip with The Pony and the Boat restaurant.)

Dare County Board of Education elections became partisan in 2018 as the result of legislation ratified by both houses of the N.C. General Assembly. Because the ratified bill was “local” in nature—meaning that it applied to fewer than 15 counties in the state—it did not go to Governor Cooper, who likely would have vetoed it. It became law upon ratification.

In order for Unaffiliated candidates to have their names on the ballot in a partisan election, N.C. law requires them to secure nomination by petition. (See N.C. General Statutes sec. 163-122(a)(3).)

Your signature on Ms. Robinson’s petition signifies only that you support including her name on the November ballot. It is not a vote.

For more information about Ms. Robinson’s petition drive, contact maryrforboe@gmail.com.

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TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TOMORROW AT 10 A.M.: The Southern Shores Town Council will meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the Pitts Center for its regular monthly meeting.

You may access the AGENDA & MEETING PACKET at: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-84356658e7a84b4ca6a9d3a57048639a.pdf

The Beacon will not cover this meeting.

At the January meeting, Mayor Elizabeth Morey announced that she would hold an informal MAYOR’S CHAT on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 4:30 p.m., in the Pitts Center. The Mayor and other members of the Town Council and Town staff who may attend will take questions and comments from the public.

(The chat was confirmed by a Town announcement issued later today.)

BY ANN G. SJOERDSMA, THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 2/9/26

Southern Shores Town offices will remain closed tomorrow, and trash and recycling will be picked up on Friday, according to an announcement issued this morning by the Town.

THERE WILL BE NO TRASH PICKUP TOMORROW, and the Town’s plan to collect trash and recycling on Friday is subject to change. The Beacon will notify you if the Town reschedules the collection.

We should have mentioned earlier that although the Town does not plow secondary roads, Town Public Works crews are clearing some roads for essential services. Please use extra caution in those areas.

FOURTH HOUSE COLLAPSES; BUXTON OCEANFRONT IS CLOSED

While we were writing our earlier post today, another unoccupied oceanfront house in Buxton apparently was collapsing into ocean, according to The Coastland Times, which reported the event occurred around 9 a.m.

Since Saturday, four houses in Buxton have fallen into the ocean, and the entire coastline of the small village on Hatteras Island is now closed to the public, according to The Coastland Times.

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore advises people to stay away from the collapse sites and the surrounding beach area because of potentially hazardous debris.

BY THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 2/2/26

The Island Free Press is reporting this morning that two more oceanfront houses in Buxton have collapsed in the surf as a result of the storm, one last night and the other this morning at high tide. Both were unoccupied.

The Beacon reported yesterday on the collapse around sunrise of a house at 46201 Tower Circle Road in Buxton. The Island Free Press does not provide addresses for the new casualties.

According to the Free Press, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has closed the beach affected by the houses’ extensive debris to the public.

Nineteen oceanfront houses on Hatteras Island have fallen since September, all but one of them in Buxton, the other in Rodanthe.

For the story and photographs, see https://islandfreepress.org/outer-banks-news/two-more-oceanfront-homes-collapse-in-buxton-2026/.

We also sadly note that The Island Free Press reports today on the death of Gee Gee Rosell, the longtime owner of Buxton Village Books, on Jan. 29.

Gee Gee opened her beloved book shop in 1984, 10 years after she graduated from the West Virginia University School of Forestry and moved to Hatteras Island.

We had the pleasure of first meeting Gee Gee, an independent, hard-working free spirit, more than 30 years ago. She was devoted to books, writers, readers, and Hatteras Island and was also a lot of fun.  

A memorial reportedly will be held for Gee Gee in the spring.

THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 2/2/26

The Town of Southern Shores’ administrative offices will be closed tomorrow, and there will be no trash collection until Tuesday, as previously announced by the Town.

The Town Council meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday has been rescheduled until 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in the Pitts Center.

According to a Town announcement, the Town Council’s meeting agenda will remain the same. See agenda meeting packet at:

https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-84356658e7a84b4ca6a9d3a57048639a.pdf.*

Dare County offices and facilities will be closed tomorrow and Tuesday. There will be no classes or remote learning tomorrow for students of Dare County schools.

For more closures and cancellations, see:

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/NCDARECOUNTY/bulletins/4072e21

ROAD CLEARANCE: The N.C. Dept. of Transportation will clear N.C. Hwy. 12 and U.S. Hwy. 158 in Southern Shores. Neither the Town nor Dare County will clear the secondary roads. That job is left up to Mother Nature.

ANOTHER HOUSE COLLAPSES IN OCEAN OFF HATTERAS ISLAND

An unoccupied oceanfront house in Buxton, on Hatteras Island, collapsed into the ocean just before sunrise today, according to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, after a high pounding surf washed out the sand beneath its pilings.

Snow from the weekend’s winter-storm nor’easter had just stopped falling when the house collapsed, leaving a massive field of debris along the beach, according to news reports online.

Built in 1979, the house was located at 46201 Tower Circle Road, along a stretch of road noteworthy for other oceanfront houses in Buxton having collapsed there since last September.

At least 16 homes fell in the ocean off Hatteras Island in 2025. All of them were located in Buxton except one that was located in Rodanthe, according to the Island Free Press, which provides an overview of winter-storm conditions on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. See https://islandfreepress.org.

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*The last time we published The Beacon, we promised to provide you with the full names of the four new Southern Shores Fire Dept. captains who were sworn into office at the last Town Council meeting. They are Matt Jones, Dakota Sawyer, Daniel Wottawa, and Lawson Marsh. For biographical information about each, see p. 3 of the Town Council meeting agenda packet.

BY THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 2/1/26