Electing Candidates and Voting in North Carolina

Nominating Candidates Political parties are active year-round. They keep people informed and interested in issues and candidates. They try to see that the party’s elected officials do a good job. They politically criticize actions of the opposing party. Parties select candidates through the nomination process.

There Can Be Only One

Direct Primaries In direct primaries, voters in each state choose candidates to represent the party in a general election. Often the winner of the most primaries wins the party’s nomination.

Closed and Open Primaries Most states hold closed primaries in which only declared members may vote for the party’s nominees. A few states hold an open primary in which voters need not declare a party preference to vote for the party’s nominees.

Political Party Preference If you register as a Republican or Democrat, you may participate in primary elections.

More Than One Candidate In a few states, the winner must have a majority—a number greater than half of the total. If no candidate receives a majority, the party holds a runoff primary between the two top vote getters.

Partisan v. Nonpartisan Elections In partisan elections, candidates run under political party labels. The party label gives voters a quick way to choose candidates whose policy positions they feel they are likely to support. In nonpartisan elections, candidates’ political parties are not listed.

Why Vote? Voting is the right to choose who will run the government. It is also a civic responsibility. If you don’t vote, you hand over your share of political power to other voters who may not share your views.

The Right to Vote The League of Women Voters of North Carolina is an organization within the state that encourages all North Carolinians to exercise their right to vote.

Expanding the Right to Vote After North Carolina gained it’s independence from Great Britain, only free, male, property-owning citizens at least 21 years old could vote. In 1835, the General Assembly prohibited free men of African descent from voting. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment extended voting rights to all male citizens who were 21 years old. "The First Vote" -1867

Voting Qualifications in N.C. To be eligible to vote in N.C., a person must: Be a U.S. Citizen 18 Years Old by the Next General Election Lived in their Voting District for at least 30 days Not be Serving a Sentence for Conviction as a Felon Be Registered to Vote Voters must register at least 25 days before an election. If you move to a new county, you need to register to vote in that new county.

A Two-Party State For most of the 1900s, statewide offices and the General Assembly were controlled by the Democratic Party. Today, North Carolina is a two-party state. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party regularly win statewide offices for their members.

Democratic/Republican Switch In 1972, two Republicans won key statewide offices. Jim Holshouser was elected governor, and Jesse Helms was elected as a U.S. senator. Many voters who were registered as Democrats and voted mostly for Democratic candidates crossed over to vote for Holshouser and Helms. The Republican and Democratic Parties were changing.

The 1960s Democratic Party During the 1960s, the national Democratic Party had become increasingly focused on economic, social, and political equality. National Democrats supported the War on Poverty, The Civil Rights Act, The Voting Rights Act and The Equal Rights Amendment. Following the Civil War, most African Americans had joined the Republican Party-“The Party of Lincoln”. Once the right to vote was enforced by the federal government, most African American North Carolinians registered as Democrats.

“Watchdog” Role Parties play a “watchdog” role. The party out of power watches the actions of those in power for mistakes and misuse of power. Competition between parties forces the party in power to pay attention to the will of the people.