Pittsboro, NC – As we prepare for a primary election in Chatham County on May 8, 2018, we want to remind Chatham County voters of the primary’s purpose.
A primary is the election during which voters of each recognized party select candidates to compete as their party’s choice to seek office in the general election. That is why, with one exception, only registered Democrats vote in a Democratic primary, only registered Republicans vote in a Republican primary, and only registered Libertarians vote in a Libertarian primary. The exception is that persons who are registered as Unaffiliated may choose to vote in any of the party primaries.
If by the close of the filing period, no more than one person in a given political party has filed for a particular office, it means we have no party primary for that office.
We have a unique circumstance in Chatham County this year— for several offices up for election, we either have just one Republican candidate or no Republican candidate at all. This means that Chatham County will not have a Republican primary for the contests listed below for the primary election on May 8, 2018. Therefore, registered Republicans will NOT cast a ballot for these contests until the general election on November 6, 2018.
Only one Republican candidate filed for each of the following offices:
* US Congress District 6
* NC Senate District 23
* NC House 54
* County Commissioner District 3
* County Commissioner District 4
* County Commissioner District 5
No Republican candidates filed for the following offices:
* District Attorney District 18
* Sheriff
* Clerk of Court
No Libertarians candidates filed for office during the filing period; therefore, Chatham County will not have a Libertarian primary.