Early voting begins for North Carolina primary runoff races

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Early in-person voting started on Thursday across North Carolina for next month’s runoff elections, including one congressional and two statewide primary contests.

Voters are choosing this fall’s Republican nominees for lieutenant governor, state auditor and the 13th Congressional District seat. These May 14 runoffs, also known as “second primaries,” occurred because the candidate with the most votes in the March 5 primaries for these races failed to receive more than 30% of the vote. The second-place candidate had to formally ask for a runoff.

The lieutenant governor’s GOP runoff is between Hal Weatherman and Jim O’Neill, while the nomination for state auditor is between Jack Clark and Dave Boliek. Kelly Daughtry and Brad Knott are seeking the 13th District nomination. The winners will face Democratic rivals — and in some cases Libertarian Party candidates — in the fall.

These GOP primary runoffs are open to all registered Republicans in the state, or in the case of the congressional race, registered Republicans within the 13th District. Unaffiliated voters who either didn’t vote or voted Republican in the March primaries also can participate, the State Board of Elections said in a news release.

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Early voting in all 100 counties continues through May 11. Generally, most counties have just one early-vote site for the runoffs.

A GOP primary runoff is also being conducted for a Gaston County commissioner’s seat. And there’s a race to fill a seat on the nonpartisan Orange County Board of Education that had different runoff rules.

Same-day registration is unavailable during early voting because the registration of new voters is not permitted between the first and second primaries. But people who become eligible to vote during the two primaries can both register and vote on May 14, the state board said.

Traditional mail-in absentee voting for the runoffs began in late March when county boards started sending ballots to those who requested them.