NEWS

 

Full-size sample ballots at bottom of the article

Primary 2024: Early Voting begins February 15,  Primary Day is March 5 

As noted in our initial article about redistricting, the 2024 election cycle has a lot of changes for Davidson voters. For the upcoming primary, voters have three potential ballots, depending on party affiliation. Unaffiliated voters have the option of selecting any of the three ballots but may only select one.

Mecklenburg County Board of Elections data reflects that as of November 30, 2023, there were 3235 registered Republicans, 3975 registered Democrats, 5745 unaffiliated voters, and 75 Libertarians. Additional demographic information can be seen in the graphic below. Registered Democrats, Libertarians, and Republicans will use a ballot based on their party’s primary candidates.

Note, there are also Davidson voters in Iredell County. The residents of Davidson Pointe are included in Iredell County data. While data about these voters can be broken out in local Davidson elections, their demographic information isn’t listed on the Iredell County BOE website.

Democratic voters will have the following races on their ballots:

• President
• U.S. House of Representatives – District 14
• N.C. Governor
• N.C. Lieutenant Governor
• N.C. Attorney General
• N.C. Commissioner of Insurance
• N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction
• N.C. Treasurer
• N.C. Supreme Court – Associate Justice Seat 6
• N.C. House of Representatives – District 98
• Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners At-Large

 

Libertarian voters have the shortest ballot, with only Presidential and N.C. Governor primary races.

Republican voters have the longest ballot, and will have the option to vote for primary candidates for the following races:

• President
• U. S. House of Representatives – District 14
• N.C. Governor
• N.C. Lieutenant Governor
• N.C. Auditor
• N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture
• N.C. Commissioner of Insurance
• N.C. Commissioner of Labor
• N.C. Secretary of State
• N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction
• N.C. Treasurer
• N.C. Court of Appeals – Seat 15

Here are some of the interesting things we noticed on these ballots.

First, there are several candidates who are current or former office holders of different elected offices. Those candidates include Davidson resident Natasha Marcus, the current State Senator for District 37, who is on the Democratic primary ballot, running for N.C. Commissioner of Insurance. Jeff Tarte, the former state senator, who Marcus defeated in 2018, is running for N.C. Auditor on the Republican primary ballot. Also on the Republican primary ballot is current N.C. Speaker of the House, Tim Moore, now a candidate for the U.S. House District 14.

Interestingly, if Democratic primary voters select Natasha Marcus for Commissioner of Insurance, and Republican primary voters select Andrew Marcus as their candidate, the November election would pit Marcus vs. Marcus for the seat.

Additionally, it is worth noting that on the Republican ballot, all the presidential candidates who have withdrawn from the race are still listed on the ballot.

Lastly, while it is the shortest ballot, the Libertarian ballot has a presidential candidate named “David (Trime Taveler) Dunlap.” Note, we checked our spelling on all of these. Another presidential candidate is named “Mike ter Maat.” And a third candidate is named “Toad Anderson.”

As a reminder, early voting for the 2024 primary begins on February 15, with Primary Day on March 5.