On September 23, the conference committee of the North Carolina legislature decided that HB 373 will provide that all 2016 primaries will be in March. See this story. Traditionally the state has held primaries for all office in May.

Candidates running in primaries will be required to file by December 21, 2015.

The bill has no effect on the petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties or independent candidates. New party petitions will continue to be due in May, and independent candidate petitions in June. Here is the text of the bill. The bill’s provisions concerning the date of primaries only applies to 2016, not years further into the future. Both houses are expected to vote on the bill on September 24.