With the NC Primary Election coming in two months on Tuesday, Wednesday, May 17th, now is a good time to register to vote and start researching candidates for your districts.

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of primary elections, they are always held in the spring before the general (national) election. Primaries are used to determine who will represent each party in their district for the general election. While these elections don’t exactly determine who will gain seats in the local or national government, it gives you, the voter, an opportunity to choose who you want to represent your district in the general election and have a chance at winning that seat. 

To vote in the NC Primary Election, you must complete your voter registration by April 22nd, which is 25 days before election day. Although 18 is the federal voting age, 17 year-olds can vote in the primary election if they turn 18 before Tuesday, November 8, 2022, the date of the general election. There are two ways to register to vote: at the DMV and through mail.

When applying for your full driver’s license at the DMV, everyone is given the option to complete their voter registration there. If not completed there, the DMV’s services can still be used with their online voter registration application, which can be found at the bottom of this list of services at this link. There is no sign-in or payment required. To learn more about the DMV’s voter registration services, visit their website at this link.

To register to vote through mail, you must first download and complete the voter registration application. The English application can be found at this link and the Spanish application at this link. Once your information is filled out online, you must print out the completed application, sign it, and mail it to the Wake County Board of Elections. Their mailing address is P.O. Box 695 Raleigh NC, 27602. The voter registration application can also be used to update your name, address, and party affiliation.

If you have already pre-registered to vote at 16 or 17 years old, you are automatically registered to vote when you’re 18 with the same information. If you are unsure if you’ve registered to vote already, you can check at this link. To check your status, enter your state of residence in the first box, click continue, and fill out your information. Once you click search, your status should say “active” if you are registered. If it doesn’t say active, you must fill out the mail-in registration form.

With the US Senate tied at 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats (+ Vice President Kamala Harris for a tie-breaker vote), the US House at 222 Democrats and 211 Republicans, and the NC Senate at 22 Democrats and 28 Republicans, this primary will be incredibly important in determining the political future of North Carolina and the United States as a whole.

Para hispanohablantes, usan este enlace para completar e imprimir la inscripción de votante y enviarlo por correo a P.O. Box 695 Raleigh NC, 27602 antes del 22 de abril.