Early voting in the 2024 primary election in Lee County begins on Thursday, Feb. 15 and ends on Saturday, March 2.

Registered voters can cast ballots from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays through Friday, March 1, and also from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 2. Locations are the Hales Center, 147 McIver St. in Sanford and the McSwain Extension Center, 2420 Tramway Road in Sanford. Election Day, in which primary voters will cast ballots at 10 precincts throughout the county, is March 5.

Voting will not take place at the Lee County Board of Elections office due to parking restrictions.

Voter ID is required for the 2024 election. Registered voters without a valid ID can request one at the Lee County Board of Elections Office, 1503 Elm St. Suite 1 in Sanford, through 3 p.m. on March 2, and it will be printed on site. Voters without a valid ID can also request to fill out a “reasonable exception” form and have their vote treated as a provisional ballot. Additionally, absentee ballots are now due to the Board of Elections by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted.

There are primaries for both parties locally. Lee County Democrats can choose up to three of the following in the race for the Lee County Board of Commissioners – Kenneth Cole, Mark Lovick, Bob Joyce, Cameron Sharpe, and Lloyd Smith. The top three vote getters in the primary will face Republicans Samantha Martin, Bob Quilty and David Smoak in the general election this fall.

Local Republicans will choose a nominee for the 13th Congressional District, which includes Lee, Harnett, Johnston, Franklin, Person and Caswell counties, as well as portions of Wake and Granville counties, from among Josh McConkey of Holly Springs, Chris Baker of Zebulon, Eric Stevenson of Spring Lake, Kenny Xu of Raleigh, Brad Knott of Raleigh, Fred Von Canon of Wake Forest (editor’s note: this is not the Fred Von Canon who lives in Sanford), Siddarth Sharma of Garner, James Phillips of Lillington, Matt Shoemaker of Clayton, Marcus Dellinger of Wendell, DeVan Barbour of Benson, David Dixon of Garner, Kelly Daughtry of Smithfield, and Steve Loor of Raleigh. The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Frank Pierce of Raleigh in the fall.

There are also a number of statewide and judicial primaries for both parties (sample ballots for each party can be seen here). Voters registered unaffiliated may choose the Democratic, Libertarian or Republican ballot in the primary.