Early voting starts Thursday. 5 things to know in Gaston County – Gaston Gazette

In many ways, primary election season for local offices in Gaston County will be more excitingthan the general election in November.

Many of the races will be decided in the primary, leaving uncontested races on the ballot in November.

And with early voting starting Thursday, here are five things to know:

Must you belong to a political party in order to vote? No.

The 2.53 million voters in North Carolina who arent registered with the Democratic, Republican or Libertarian parties can vote in the primary election along with the 2.5 million Democrats and 2.2 million Republicans.

North Carolinas 49,036Libertarians have no partisan primaries this year, so their members may vote only in the non-partisan elections underway this spring.

Independent voters will have two options:

Select a non-partisan ballot and vote only in the non-partisan races, such as City Council races.

Select one of the partisan ballots and vote in those elections plus the nonpartisan elections.

Note that unaffiliated voters are not allowed to vote in more than one political partys primary. If you are independent and you happen to like a particular Republican candidate for sheriff and a particular Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, youll have to decide which candidate will get your vote. The other candidate that you liked will have to do without your support and possibly lose the election because you were blocked by law from voting for them.

You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-201-7016or email him at kellis@gastongazette.com.

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Early voting starts Thursday. 5 things to know in Gaston County - Gaston Gazette