North Carolina Presidential Primary

North Carolina will be one of the last states to hold its presidential primary in the 2008 presidential nominating process. North Carolina presidential primary is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 6th from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for Republicans, Democrats, and Unaffiliated registered voters (Cook, 2008). The May 6th primary will also feature races for U.S. Senate, Governor, the General Assembly, judgeships and the nine-member Council of State, which includes the Attorney General and State Auditor. Local races will be on the ballot, too. Certainly this multiple race election will further increase the vote turnout (Ingram, 2008).

Tradition is the word that explains why North Carolina decided to hold its primary so late in the presidential nominating process. Its decision has caused the state to be often overlooked by presidential candidates (Cook, 2008). By the time North Carolina’s citizens get to the polls, 45 states will have already held their primaries and caucuses. However, in this year’s presidential election North Carolina could be key to the presidential nominating process. This rare event is fruit of the tight race between Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois for the Democratic presidential nomination. Unlike any recent memory, the State of North Carolina in the 2008 presidential primaries will be a crucial, final battleground before the National Democratic Convention (Chou, 2008).

North Carolina’s presidential primary is a closed primary system, wherein registered Democrats and Republicans can vote only on their respective party’s primary; independents or unaffiliated voters may participate in either party’s primary. However, if an unaffiliated voter chooses to vote in the Democratic primary, they cannot vote in a Republican runoff or second primary. Similarly, an unaffiliated voter who votes in a Republican primary cannot vote in a Democratic runoff (Cook, 2008). According to North Carolina State Board of Elections, as of January 2nd, 2008, there were a total of 5,604,420 registered voters in North Carolina, of which, 2,511,446 (54%) are registered Democrats, 1,919,575 (34%) Republicans, and 1,173,399 (21%) voters registered as unaffiliated (North Carolina State Board of Elections [NCSBE], 2008).

The qualifications for registering to vote in North Carolina are through a voter declaration. By signing the declaration, applicants are attesting that: they are U.S citizens; they will be 18 or older by the next general election; they have been residing in the state, and in the U.S., for at least 30 days prior the election; and are not registered, nor will vote, in any other country or state. Finally, in order to vote, applicants who have been convicted of a felony must have had their citizenship rights restored. The deadline to register to vote in North Carolina is 25 days before the day of the election. The County Board of Elections Office issues a notification to applicants informing them of their precinct and polling place assignments (NCSBE, 2008).

North Carolina is still a two-party state, and no third party besides Republicans and Democrats has successfully inroad in the state’s politics. Currently, North Carolina politics have shifted from the old east-west geographical split to a rural-urban divide. What once were represented by the eastern part of the state, comprised of slaveholder farmers who supported the Democratic Party, became the growing urban centers of Charllote, Raleign, Durham, and other increasingly Democratic areas. On the other hand, farmers in the western Piedmont and mountains areas, who were not slaveholders, were replaced by rural and small-town areas that are now the heavy Republican supporters. In addition, these events produce a third actor to the political scenes, which are the suburban areas around the urban centers. These fast growing suburbs are composed of complex demographic makeup, which usually hold its vote power and tend to cast their vote for either party (Ainsley, 2007).

Historically, North Carolina stays as a red-republican state in the general election (David, 2005). However, with the rising number of registered Democrats, mainly influenced by the Obama-Clinton contest, North Carolina can easily become a blue-democrat state in the upcoming election. It is likely that this increase was caused by the most competitive presidential race in decades, as well as concerns about the Iraq war, the economy and other issues (Ingram, 2008).

The scenario of this tight contest has been developing as the two candidates continue to split the delegates (Chou, 2008). In recent campaign visit to the city of Raleigh, Senator Hillary Clinton sought to find support among military voters, which account for a significant portion of North Carolina’s electorate. Senator Hillary Clinton also counts on the support of a former President Bill Clinton and their daughter,