It would be easy to believe that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has secured the Republican presidential nomination and that the May 8 primary is inconsequential. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

While Romney appears well on his way to facing President Barack Obama in the general election this fall, there are state and local issues that deserve our input at the polls this spring.

The first is the proposed amendment to the state Constitution to provide that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”

The second measure will ask Beaufort County voters to weigh in on a “local sales and use tax at the rate of one-quarter percent (0.25%) in addition to all other State and local sales and use taxes.”

The good news is that voters — Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated — will have ample opportunity to record their positions on these two matters. One-stop, walk-in voting, which began Thursday, is being held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 5, when early voting ends, at the Beaufort County Board of Elections office off Highland Drive and Cowell Farm Road in Washington. The regular primary will be held May 8.

Registered and nonregistered voters are encouraged to avoid the last-minute rush and take advantage of the convenient early voting period.

There should be no excuse for ignoring this important primary.