Runoff Primary

No, don't runoff, the primary's not over.

You may not have noticed, but the 2012 primary election to determine the party nominees for the election in November isn't over yet. Yesterday the polls opened at Pamlico County's Board of Elections for voters to cast their ballots in five primary contests in which the outcome has not yet been decided.

The second (or runoff) primary is legally just a continuation of the first primary.

Election day for the second primary is July 17. Primary results will not be official until a week after the second primary, when county boards of elections conduct their canvass of votes. A week after that, the state board holds its canvass. That's when the count becomes official.

We even have one contest in November for which the filing deadline is next week. One seat on Pamlico County's Soil and Water Conservation Board will be on the ballot - a nonpartisan county-wide election. The filing deadline is July 6.

Oh, by the way, North Carolina is one of only eight states (all former members of the Confederacy) with runoff primaries.