Hey readers, this article originally went out as a new newsletter we’re calling Democracy, Empowered. It will include our election coverage, ways for you to get involved, important election information and dates. If you find the newsletter helpful, you can sign up for it online. We’ll be sending it out about once a week.

🗳️ GET INVOLVED: Early voting is underway!

Primary Election Dates:

  • Feb. 15, 2024: In-person early voting begins; same-day registration available.
  • Feb. 27, 2024: Absentee ballot request deadline (5 p.m.).
  • March 2, 2024: In-person early voting ends (3 p.m.).
  • March 5, 2024: Primary Election Day.
  • March 5, 2024: Absentee ballot return deadline (7:30 p.m.).

📰 BE INFORMED

Even if you’re not registered to vote, you can do same-day registration during the early voting period. Learn how here. Also, if you decide to vote early, you can visit any precinct you’d like to cast your vote. Find Guilford County polling locations here and Forsyth County locations here.
If you’re voting on Election Day (March 5), you have to go to your assigned precinct. Find where that is here. A reminder! All voters need ID to vote this year. Learn more about what counts as a valid ID here.

🗳️ A VOTING TIP

Want to make it easy on yourself before you go vote? Download or print out your sample ballot and then circle or write down which candidates you want to vote for. You can also find a physical copy of our issue out on the streets now and mark that up if you’d like! Easy peasy, extra cheezy.

📰 DO THE READING

Do you know who you’re going to vote for in the state attorney general’s race? What about lieutenant governor? If you’re confused (it’s ok, we are too) we’ve got our comprehensive 2024 Primary Election Guide out now that has every single candidate on the ballot in the Triad from president all the way down to school board. Can we get a hell yeah?

Democrat Tomakio Gause speaks during the Feb. 6 judicial campaign forum at Elon Law School. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)

📰 BE INFORMED

We know that judicial races often don’t get a lot of news coverage. That makes the races hard to understand and difficult to figure out who to vote for. What do the superior and district courts even do? How long are judges elected for? Who is running?

We’ve got all of those answers for the Guilford County judicial races in our latest election piece here. We’ve also got info for the Forsyth County judicial races in our Primary Guide here. Read it, share it up and then make sure to vote in the primary on March 5! Early voting is already in session.

We’ve also got pullout articles about attorney general, governor and the lieutenant governor races.

📰 A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

A screenshot of the early voting numbers for Guilford County by party as of Feb. 21.

It’s been about a week since early voting started on Feb. 15 and so far, it looks like there’s been decent turnout! Here’s the rundown courtesy of the John Locke Foundation:

  • In Guilford County, more than 7,000 votes have been cast as of Feb. 21. More than 3,600 — or more than 51 percent — of those votes have been cast by Democrats. Close to 2,000 votes or — about 28 percent — have been cast by Republicans. And almost 1,500 votes — or about 21 percent — have been cast by unaffiliated voters. Also slightly more women are voting than men.
  • In Forsyth County, more than 5,700 votes have been cast as of Feb. 21. Of those, more than 2,500 — or about 44 percent — have been cast by Democrats. Republicans have cast 1,800 votes — totaling about 31 percent, while Unaffiliated voters cast about 1,300 votes, making up a little more than 23 percent. Similar to Guilford County, female voters are turning up more than men so far.

🗳️ GET INVOLVED

We’re collecting data on how we should do election coverage this year. To help us out, you can take a quick survey that will help shape the way we report on the election.

So help us out, take the survey and share it with friends.

❤️ SHOW SUPPORT

Did you know that TCB is about to celebrate its 10-year anniversary? Our first issue hit the streets back on Feb. 26, 2014. To celebrate, we’re fundraising for the 2024 Election! It’s pretty simple. You can either make a one-time donation or you can start your own mini fundraiser for TCB with the aim of raising $100 total. Either way, it helps us out a lot.

Oh! We’re also throwing a party. See you there!

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