The runoff election cost more than $50 per voter, said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina.

In a news release, Hall said Tuesday's vote took about $4 million to operate about 3,000 polling places and process the ballots of about 75,000 voters. In some counties, turnout was so low that the cost per vote reached $70, Hall said.

"Local taxpayers foot the bill, not the state, which may be one reason why state lawmakers have been slow to address the problem of expensive, low-turnout runoffs," Hall said in the news release.

Hall supports instant runoff voting, in which voters can mark a first and second choice on election day. The state has tested the system, but it is not used widely. 

"There's got to be a better way than these embarrassing statewide runoff elections," Hall said.

Pat McCrory is worried about high Democratic turnout.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate said Monday that he is concerned that excitement over the Democratic presidential primary will lure unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in that primary, the Associated Press reports.

He said that could help his opponents, especially conservative state Sen. Fred Smith.

McCrory made the remarks to about 40 supporters while campaigning at Stanly Community College in Locust.

He has also told supporters that he hopes to avoid a primary runoff, which would likely attract a more die-hard Republican crowd that might favor Smith and would drain the energy and resources of the eventual nominee.

As noted earlier, unaffiliated voters must stick with the party ballot they choose today in a runoff, so McCrory would be doubly hurt by a high crossover rate today.

Dome has heard from unaffiliated voters who think they can't vote.

That's not true! Unaffiliated voters not only can vote today, but they have more of a choice than those who have registered as Democrats and Republicans. (And they're a significant force in their own right, making up more than 21 percent of the electorate.)

Here's how it works: At the polling place, you will be asked to choose a ballot. You have three options: Democratic, Republican or nonpartisan.

The Democratic ballot has a lot more competitive races on it, including candidates for president, U.S. senator, governor, lieutenant governor, state auditor, treasurer, labor commissioner, insurance commissioner and superintendent of public instruction.

The Republican ballot has candidates for president, U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor and superintendent of public instruction.

Both ballots will also have N.C. Court of Appeals and local district court judges. In some areas, they may also have Congressional seats on them as well.

You may also request a nonpartisan ballot that will only have the judicial races on it.

In the event of a primary runoff, unaffiliated voters who cast ballots today will be required to stick with the party they chose this time around, but there are no other restrictions after that. It is a public record which party ballot you requested.

If you are unaffiliated and you do not vote today, you can vote in the runoff for either party.

Speculation is rampant about the potential for a primary runoff.

On the Republican side, gubernatorial candidates Fred Smith and Pat McCrory are running neck and neck, but a stronger than expected showing from the back of the pack by either Bob Orr or Bill Graham could deny them an outright win.

On the Democratic side, a four-way lieutenant governor's race between Dan Besse, Walter Dalton, Hampton Dellinger and Pat Smathers could be similarly close.

To win outright, a candidate must get more than 40 percent of the vote. If more than one candidate gets over that benchmark, the top vote-getter wins outright.

But if no one gets over 40, the second-place finisher can request a recount. To do so, the candidate must make a request in writing within nine days — including weekends — of Election Day, or noon on Thursday, May 15.

If a runoff election is held, it would be on June 24.

Treasurer Richard Moore criticized another legislative action by Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue that he says calls into question her record on civil rights.

"Bev Perdue is claiming she supported civil rights her 'entire life,' but her record tells a very different story," Moore campaign manager Jay Reiff said in an e-mail message to supporters.

Before 1989, a candidate in a North Carolina primary election had to win 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. Black Democrats said then that the law was a barrier to their winning nomination for key offices, Dome reported then. In the 1989 session, black legislators made lowering the threshold to 40 percent a priority.

Perdue, then a member of the House, sponsored an amendment that raised the threshold in the bill from 40 percent to 45 percent. Dome reported that the bill's supporters thought the change "gutted" the bill.

Her campaign didn't respond immediatly to requests for comment. She said at the time the amendment was a compromise.

More on what Dome said at the time after the jump.

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Primary runoff elections are a Southern institution.

In a 1997 column, veteran N&O political observer Rob Christensen wrote that primary runoffs have been a "political fact of life" in North Carolina since 1915, leading to defeats for Luther Hodges Jr., Frank Porter Graham and Jim Gardner, among others.

At the time, the legislature was considering abolishing them.

Christensen interviewed Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia professor who studied 1,222 primary runoffs between 1970 and 1986. Bullock, the nation's leading expert on primary runoffs, argued they are the least-understood aspect of American elections.

Bullock argued that primary runoffs: 1) Were not created to disenfranchise black voters. 2) Do not necessarily hurt black candidates. 3) Keep Democratic- and Republican-controlled districts competitive. 4) Do not necessarily hurt the eventual nominee. 5) Do not always go to the underdog. 6) Are not chosen by a handful of voters.

After the jump, the full text of the column.

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Will there be a runoff in the Republican gubernatorial primary?

Citing mixed poll results, political observers are citing the possibility that none of the four candidates will achieve the 40 percent necessary to avoid a runoff. At least one of the candidates has openly worried about the possibility.

Right now, the most likely possibility would be a close split between state Sen. Fred Smith and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the current front-runners. That would mean a faceoff between the conservative and moderate factions of the GOP.

The last time the Republican gubernatorial primary was not decisive was in 2004, when Patrick Ballantine edged out Richard Vinroot by half a percentage point. One day later, Vinroot abruptly withdrew and endorsed Ballantine, who went on to lose to Mike Easley.

The last Republican gubernatorial runoff was in 1976, when David Flaherty beat Coy Privette, then went on to lose to Democrat Jim Hunt in the general election.

Hat Tip: Brooke Cain