Although regular voter registration for the June 7 primary ended May 13, eligible North Carolina residents may register during the early voting period, which begins Thursday.

For the June 7 primary, the last day to request an absentee ballot by mail is May 31. Early voting ends at 1 p.m. June 4. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. June 7. During the early voting period in Beaufort County, voters may mark ballots at the Beaufort County Board of Elections office, 1308 Highland Drive, Washington. No satellite offices will be open for early voting.

To help voters, the North Carolina State Board of Elections has prepared an online voter guide, which may be accessed at http://www.ncsbe.gov/press-releases?udt_2226_param_detail=48 and clicking on the “online voter guide” link in the first sentence of the news release. The 11-page guide was developed by the state board to inform voters about important election-related dates, primary candidates for N.C. Supreme Court, voter ID requirements and exceptions.

“We hope voters use our online voter guide and participate in the June 7 primary for U.S. House and N.C. Supreme Court,” said Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the state board, in a news release.

The guide includes statements by and information about four candidates 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.

The June 7 primary will determine political parties’ nominees for contested seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In February, 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. As a result of that ruling, the North Carolina General Assembly approved a new map depicting the state’s 13 congressional districts. At that time, the North Carolina General Assembly delayed the primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives until June 7. Under that 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.

The courts have not approved those new districts. It’s possible those districts could be rejected, requiring another redrawing of the districts this election cycle.

Unaffiliated voters who selected a partisan ballot in the March primary are permitted to select a different party in June. Across the state, 76 candidates filed for the U.S. House, where representatives serve two-year terms. Twenty-two of those candidates (17 of them Republicans) filed for the 13^th District seat.

When it comes to the Republican primary to choose the GOP nominee for the 3^rd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, the lineup is the same as it was after the initial filing period ended Dec. 21, 2015. The new maps put all of Beaufort County in the 3^rd District. Prior to the court’s ruling, a section of the county was in the 1^st 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.