Early voting for the June 7 primary in Beaufort County begins Thursday at 8 a.m.

Voters may visit the Beaufort County Board of Elections office (1308 Highland Drive, Suite 104) to mark ballots. The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and all weekdays next week, except for Monday, which is Memorial Day. The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 4.

On June 7, polls throughout the county open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.

Voters will decide political parties’ nominees for the U.S. House of Representatives. In Beaufort County, that means determining the nominees in the 3^rd Congressional District. Incumbent Walter B. Jones, seeking a 12^th consecutive two-year term, faces challenges from Phil Law and Taylor Griffin. The winner of the June 7 GOP primary takes on the winner of the Democratic primary for the 3^rd District seat. David Allan Hurst and Ernest T. Reeves face each other in the Democratic primary.

Four of the five candidates (Reeves did not file in the initial filing period) were forced to re-file as the result of a ruling by a three-member panel of judges declared two of North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts, including the 1^st District, unconstitutional because race was used in setting their boundaries and set Feb. 19 as the deadline for redrawn district maps to be submitted. As a result of that ruling, the North Carolina General Assembly approved a new map depicting the state’s 13 congressional districts. The new maps place all of Beaufort County in the 3^rd District. Previously, part of the county was in the 3^rd District and the remaining part of the county was in the 1^st District, represented by U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat.

At that time, the Legislature delayed the primaries for the U.S. House until June 7. Under that new plan, the candidate receiving the most votes in a primary would automatically win the primary and would not have to receive at least 40 percent of the votes cast, an exception to existing state law.

Also, four candidates are competing in a primary for associate justice on the N.C. Supreme Court. Filing for that office began and ended in March after a court struck down a retention election process that had been available to sitting justices. The top two vote-getters in the judicial contest will move on to the general election in November.