The 2026 elections are here. Voting starts Monday in the primary elections, giving millions of North Carolinians the chance to determine who will face off in November\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n
Election Day itself for the primaries isn\u2019t until March 3. So people who are still undecided \u2014 or who haven\u2019t yet started researching which races or candidates they can vote for \u2014 still have nearly two months to learn more.<\/p>\n
But on Monday, the state will begin sending out mail-in ballots to those who have requested them, and those people can start filling them out and sending them back.<\/p>\n
For people who want to vote by mail<\/a>, there\u2019s still more time to request a ballot. That deadline is still more than a month away. For people who\u2019d rather vote in person<\/a>, there\u2019s plenty more to know about that process as well. And for people who need to register for the first time, update their name or address or change parties, there are some upcoming voter registration<\/a> deadlines as well.<\/p>\n Here are some key dates and facts to know about voting in North Carolina\u2019s 2026 primary elections.<\/p>\n Important dates<\/b><\/p>\n Which races you can vote for: <\/b>North Carolina has what\u2019s called a semi-closed primary. If you belong to a political party, you have to vote in that party\u2019s primary. But if you\u2019re registered as unaffiliated, you can choose which party\u2019s primary to vote in. There are a few statewide races on the ballot this year, including U.S. Senate, that every North Carolinian can vote in. But most races on the ballot are limited to smaller regions \u2014 state and federal legislative seats, county sheriffs, judges and prosecutors, and a few city council races including Raleigh\u2019s.<\/p>\n How to research the candidates: <\/b>Anyone in the state can find their specific sample ballot \u2014 or, for unaffiliated voters, all the sample ballots they\u2019ll be allowed to choose from \u2014 by looking up their voter registration online. Enter your name on the state\u2019s voter-search website<\/a>, find your records and scroll down to the field marked \u201cyour sample ballot\u201d where there will be links indicating \u201cD\u201d for Democrat, \u201cR\u201d for Republican or both. There are no primaries on the ballot this year for the state\u2019s other recognized political parties, the Libertarian and Green parties.<\/p>\n Rules for mail-in voting:<\/b> Unlike some other states, anyone in North Carolina can vote by mail for any reason. But while it offers a way to skip any lines or having to drive to a polling place, it can also come with some added steps. The ballots must be signed by witnesses and can be thrown out if the signatures or other information get accidentally written in the wrong place. People who want to track their ballots through the mail can use an app called BallotTrax<\/a>. That allows people to know whether their ballot has been received, or if they should perhaps ask to cancel their mail-in ballot and go vote in person instead.<\/p>\n When to mail your ballot: <\/b>In a recent change, North Carolina voters must now mail their ballots in at least several days before Election Day. State lawmakers recently did away with the state\u2019s three-day grace period. That grace period allowed ballots to arrive and be counted after the election, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Now any mail-in ballots that arrive after polls close on Election Day will be thrown in the trash regardless of when they were mailed. People who want to ensure their ballots are received can also decide not to put them in the mail at all but instead hand-deliver them to their home county\u2019s board of elections office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 elections are here. 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