Early Voting Begins in Orange County

Orange County residents can start voting on Thursday for the 2018 primary election.

The first two days of early voting on Thursday and Friday will be held at the Orange County Board of Elections office in Hillsborough, additional locations open on Saturday.

Orange County will have at least two new members of the board of commissioners. Jamezetta Bedford is set to take over the District 1 seat representing southern Orange County on the board that is being vacated by Mia Burroughs, who chose to not seek re-election. Bedford was the only candidate who filed for that seat.

A new commissioner will also be selected to the at-large seat after Barry Jacobs, who initially filed to run for another term, chose to withdraw and not seek re-election after serving on the board for 20 years.

Former Chapel Hill Town Council member Sally Greene and attorneys Brian Crawford and Noah Oswald are running for the at-large seat hoping to replace Jacobs.

Earl McKee is running for another term on the Board of Commissioners representing northern Orange County in District 2. Tommy McNeill is challenging McKee.

Orange County voters will also be choosing a sheriff. The incumbent Charles Blackwood is running for a second term as sheriff. A former investigator in the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Tony White is running against Blackwood.

At least three new members will be elected to the Orange County Schools Board of Education; Brenda Stephens is the only incumbent seeking re-election.

In what is typically an under-the-radar race, there will be a challenge to the incumbent running for clerk of court. James Stanford has served in that role for 17 years and is being challenged this primary by former Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt.

All of those races will be decided in the primary election.

Meanwhile, Orange County voters will be casting ballots in the Democratic and Libertarian primary races for North Carolina’s Fourth Congressional District. Democratic Incumbent David Price is being challenged by Michelle Laws and Richard Watkins. Barbara Howe and Perry Whitlock are facing off in the Libertarian primary race.

The winner of each primary will go on to the November general election.

No local state lawmakers are facing a primary challenge, but all will have a contest in the general election this fall.

Residents who did not register to vote by the deadline can take advantage of one-stop voting during the early voting period.

Early voting will be held at the Board of Elections in Hillsborough, Carrboro Town Hall, Chapel of the Cross on Franklin Street, Efland Ruritan Club and the Seymour Senior Center on Homestead Road. Early voting runs through Saturday, May 5. The primary election is set for May 8.

For the full early voting schedule, click here.