A primary election is the process where members of the same political party compete to represent their party in the general election. The candidate who wins the most votes advances to the subsequent general election ballot.

If only one candidate from a party files for a given office, that race won’t appear on the primary ballot. Their name will automatically advance to the general election. Primary elections ensure that voters, not party insiders, decide who represents each party in the final contest.

North Carolina runs partisan primaries and allows unaffiliated voters to participate.

• Registered Democrats may vote only in the Democratic primary.
• Registered Republicans may vote only in the Republican primary.
• Unaffiliated voters can choose which party’s ballot they’d like to vote on when checking in at the polls.

However, voters registered with other political parties, such as the Libertarian, Green, or No Labels parties, cannot vote in another party’s primary unless their party participates in that primary.

This flexibility gives unaffiliated voters (now the largest voting bloc in North Carolina) a major role in shaping who appears on the general election ballot.

Turnout in primaries is historically much lower than in general elections—often below 20% statewide. In 2022, just a fraction of eligible voters cast ballots in the midterm primary. When few people vote, the results represent only a narrow portion of the community’s voice.

In many areas, especially those where one political party tends to dominate, the primary is the real deciding election. That means the officials who shape local budgets, school policies, and laws may effectively be chosen long before the general election.

Voting in primaries helps:

• Strengthen representation: More voter participation leads to outcomes that better reflect the community’s full range of perspectives.
• Hold leaders accountable: Primaries give citizens the chance to support new candidates or reward incumbents based on performance.
• Shape local priorities: Many critical decisions — from education funding to infrastructure — are influenced by local offices, often decided in primary contests.