While most folks are thinking about the upcoming July 4 festivities or pending vacations, Moore County Board of Elections officials are thinking ballot box.

Voting for the second statewide primary begins this week. Early voting begins Thursday and ends July 14 at 1 p.m. in the Board of Elections offices.

The official Election Day will be July 17, with all polls open from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Don’t expect voting to take long. The second primary is needed for just one Democratic primary race and four Republican races. Candidates in these seats failed to get at least 40 percent of the vote in the May primary.

On the Democratic primary ballot, Marlowe Foster and John C. Brooks are competing for their party’s spot as candidate for state commissioner of labor.

The Republican ballot is a bit meatier:

• Dan Forest and Tony Gurley are competing for lieutenant governor.

• Eagle Springs resident and former state legislator Richard Morgan faces Mike Causey for commissioner of insurance.

• Kenn Gardner and Ed Goodwin are competing for secretary of state.

• John Tedesco and Richard Alexander are vying for superintendent of public instruction.

Normal primary voting rules apply again: Only registered Democrats or Republicans can vote in their respective party’s primary, said Glenda Clendenin, director of the Moore County Board of Elections.

“Voters affiliated with the Libertarian Party do not have a second primary,” she said. “Unaffiliated voters who did not participate in the first primary may vote in the second and vote their choice of ballot, if a ballot choice is applicable to the county or precinct in which they reside.”

The hours for early voting will be Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 14 will be the only Saturday the offices will be open for one-stop absentee voting, and the hours on that day will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Board of Elections will be closed on the Fourth of July. The last day to request an absentee ballot by mail is July 10.

In other election news, N.C. House of Representatives District 78 candidate Joel Adam McClosky, a Democrat, has withdrawn from the fall race.

A replacement nominee is needed by Aug. 23 or McClosky’s name will appear on the November ballot, Clendenin said.

The Moore County Board of Elections office is at 700 Pinehurst Ave. in Carthage.

Contact John Lentz at (910) 693-2479 or jlentz@thepilot. com.