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Voters, you have some work to do.

Ballots in the primary May 6 and the general election Nov. 4 will determine who runs your school system, writes state laws and has the power to send you to jail.

An early look at some of the choices you will face:

Guilford County Board of education

* KEY RACES: District 3, incumbent Darlene Garrett versus Mike Stone. ... At-large, with candidates Sandra Alexander, David Crawford, Alan Hawkes, Erik "E.C." Huey and Michael McKinney.

* WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Candidates have similar platforms, including pushing for better financial transparency and management of school construction and improved student discipline.

Huey, a former teacher and reporter, has been a self-promoter, stating his intention to run in November 2006, speaking at school board meetings and increasing readership of his education blog.

McKinney, a commercial banker, may have the most business connections of the at-large candidates, having served on boards with Guilford County Planning, the United Way of Greater Greensboro, the Triad Real Estate & Building Industry Coalition and Bennett College.

Crawford ran unsuccessfully against Mike Barber for Greensboro City Council last year. Hawkes, who serves on the Greensboro Academy's board, has run for the Guilford County Board of Education three times but has never held a seat.

* NOTABLE: Garrett ran against Stone in 2000. ... Anita Sharpe and Dot Kearns will retire, each serving more than a decade. District 1 incumbent Walter Childs will also leave to pursue ministry and appears to have hand-picked his successor, J. Carlvena Foster, executive director of the Carl Chavis Memorial Branch YMCA in High Point.

Guilford County Board of Commissioners

* KEY RACES: District 4, Kirk Perkins versus Eddie Souther. ... District 5, Lisa Andrews, Rick Wallace and Billy Yow competing for one seat. ... At-large, Democrats Paul Gibson and John Parks, and Republicans Rudy Binder, E.H. Hennis, Larry Proctor, Joseph Rahenkamp and Wendell Sawyer competing for two seats.

* WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Democrat Greg Woodard will challenge Democratic commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston, who has held a seat on the board since 1992 and ran unopposed in the last two elections. Woodard, a former member of the Guilford County Parks and Recreation Commission, was cut from the field for Greensboro City Council in the October 2007 primary. Despite Alston's longtime hold on District 8, he considers Woodard a worthy opponent in the primary.

"We'll have a good campaign," Alston said Friday. "I know he's involved in the community."

Souther and Perkins, the current chairman, ran as first-time candidates in 2004, and Perkins won with 56 percent.

* NOTABLE: The at-large race is the biggest field of all the commissioners' races. Two of the five Republicans will make it to the general election in November to face Gibson and Parks. ... Binder is a longtime Republican supporter who hosts functions, including one in 2007 for Rep. Virginia Foxx. ... Hennis is a gospel singer, former Ku Klux Klan leader and police informant who once took a fake bomb into a commissioners meeting and later ran for a commissioners seat in 2000. ... Proctor was the 2007 Guilford County Planning Board chairman, appointed to that board in 2000. ... Retired firefighter Rahenkamp is known for his modest campaign budgets. He has run at least nine times for office but never held a seat. ... Sawyer was a state senator in the 1980s. In 2006 he lost the district attorney race to current DA Doug Henderson.

District court

More than half the 11 incumbents will run uncontested in November. Three will face primaries.

A fourth primary will decide who moves on to take the 12th seat, vacated by longtime Judge Lawrence McSwain.

N.C. House

* KEY RACE: Incumbent Laura Wiley faces a Republican primary against George Ragsdale, District 61.

* WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Wiley's primary could be a tough one. The Ragsdale surname is well-known in Guilford County, particularly in Jamestown, which makes up the western edge of District 61.

Voters will see general election rematches in the two other contested races in Guilford County.

Republican Jim Rumley will try for a third time to unseat Rep. Maggie Jeffus, a Democrat who serves on the powerful House budget-writing committee. Olga Morgan Wright will also try a third run against Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat who also sits on the budget writing committee and serves as the chairwoman of the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus.

Neither Rumley nor Morgan Wright picked up much more than 40 percent of the vote in either of their runs, and neither gained ground between their first election and their second.

* NOTABLE: Democratic Reps. Pricey Harrison and Earl Jones and Republican John Blust of Greensboro have no registered opposition.

N.C. Senate

* KEY RACES: Don Vaughan, a Democrat, versus Republican Joe Wilson, District 27. ... Democratic primary between incumbent Katie Dorsett and County Commissioner Bruce Davis, District 26.

* WHAT TO WATCH FOR: District 27 is an open seat now held by Sen. Kay Hagan, who is running for U.S. Senate. Open seats are typically more competitive because there's no incumbent with an advantage in name recognition and voter loyalty.

That said, Vaughan was a long-time Greensboro City Council member and could fare well in the Democratic-leaning district. Wilson, however, ran a hard-charging City Council campaign last fall and came closer than many expected to winning a seat.

The Democratic primary in District 28 pits two well-known Democrats against one another. Dorsett is a former Secretary of Administration and county commissioner who now serves as her chamber's majority whip.

Davis is a county commissioner who will keep his current seat even if he comes up short in the primary.

* NOTABLE: Two Republicans who represent parts of Guilford County, Sens. Phil Berger of Rockingham County and Stan Bingham of Davidson County, have no registered primary or general election opposition.

Congress

* KEY RACES: Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole faces a little-known primary challenger Pete DiLauro before facing one of five Democrats who have filed to run. ... Republican Howard Coble will face one of three Democrats registered for the primary in the 6th Congressional District. ...

Democrat Brad Miller faces a primary against little-known Derald Hafner before taking on Republican Hugh Webster in the 13th District. ... Democrat Mel Watt will defend his 12th District seat against Republican Ty Cobb Jr. of Salisbury.

* WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The U.S. Senate race will be watched by people across the nation. Dole is a well-known figure in the Republican Party and much disliked by Democrats for close ties to the Bush administration.

The Senate race has strong local ties. Greensboro state Sen. Kay Hagan and Chapel Hill investment banker Jim Neal, who grew up in Greensboro, are the leading Democrats in the primary. Three lesser-known and lesser-funded candidates join them: Duskin C. Lassiter of Lexington, Howard Staley of Moncure and Marcus Williams of Lumberton.

The incumbents in the three congressional seats enjoy sizable voter registration and fundraising advantages.

Miller may be pushed more than usual by Webster in the 13th District. Webster was a state senator representing a district closely divided between Republican and Democratic voters before losing his seat in 2006.

The Democrats hoping to unseat Coble in the 6th District are not widely known.

But house painter and musician Jay Ovittore has been a county party official and gotten local media attention.

Teresa Sue Bratton is a pediatric allergist in Greensboro and said she got into the race after being frustrated by the debate over children's health insurance legislation. Johnny Carter of Summerfield is the general manager of a plumbing and air conditioning company.

-- Compiled by staff writers Morgan Josey Glover, Gerald Witt, Jennifer Fernandez and Mark Binker

They're running

A list of candidates for offices to be determined in the primary May 6 and/or the general election Nov. 4

PRESIDENT
Democrat
Hillary Clinton
Mike Gravel
Barack Obama
Republican
Mike Huckabee
Alan Keyes
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney

U.S. SENATOR
Democrat
Kay Hagan
Duskin C. Lassiter
Jim Neal
Howard Staley
Marcus W. Williams
Republican
Elizabeth Dole (i)
Pete Di Lauro

GOVERNOR
Democrat
Richard H. Moore
Dennis Nielsen
Bev Perdue
Republican
Bill Graham
Pat McCrory
Robert F. "Bob" Orr
E. Powers
Fred Smith

LT. GOVERNOR
Democrat
Dan Besse
Walter H. Dalton
Hampton Dellinger
Pat Smathers
Republican
Timothy Cook
Greg Dority
Robert Pittenger
Jim Snyder

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Democrat
Roy Cooper (i)
Republican
Bob Crumley
AUDITOR
Democrat
Beth A. Wood
Fred Aikens
Republican
Leslie Merritt (i)

COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE
Democrat
Ronnie Ansley
Republican
Steve Troxler (i)

TREASURER
Democrat
Janet Cowell
Michael Weisel
David Young
Republican
Bill Daughtridge

SECRETARY OF STATE
Democrat
Elaine F. Marshall (i)
Republican
Jack Sawyer

COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE
Democrat
Wayne Goodwin
David C. Smith
Republican
John Odom

COURT OF APPEALS JUDGE
Arrowood seat
John S. Arrowood (i)
Robert N. "Bob" Hunter Jr.

Stephens seat
Dan Barrett
Linda Stephens (i)

Tyson seat
Sam J. Ervin IV
Janet Pueschel
Kristin Ruth
John M. Tyson (i)

Martin seat
John C. Martin (i)
McCullough seat
Cheri Beasley
Doug McCullough (i)

Wynn seat
Jewel Ann Farlow
Dean R. Poirier
James A. "Jim" Wynn (i)

DISTRICT COURT

District 18
Alloway seat
Sherry Fowler Alloway (i)

Bray seat
Susan E. Bray (i)

Burch seat
Susan R. Burch (i)
Tabatha Phillips Holliday

Falls seat
Robert Enochs
Linda L. Falls (i)
Angela C. Foster
Fletcher seat
Michelle Fletcher (i)

Hassell seat
Avery Michelle Crump
Greg Gorham
A. Robinson Hassell (i)

Hinnant seat
Patrice A. Hinnant (i)

Hunter seat
William K. "Pete" Hunter (i)

McSwain seat
Betty J. Brown
Lora Christine Cubbage
Charles L. "Chuck" White

Sizemore seat
Randle L. Jones
Polly D. Sizemore (i)
Barbara Gore Washington

Turner seat
Joseph E. Turner

Vincent seat
Teresa Vincent

GUILFORD COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
At-large (two seats)
Democrat
Paul Gibson (i)
John Parks (i)
Republican
Rudy Binder
E.H. Hennis
Larry R. Proctor
Joseph W. Rahenkamp
Wendell H. Sawyer

District 4
Democrat
Kirk Perkins (i)
Republican
Eddie Souther

District 5
Democrat
None
Republican
Lisa Andrews
Rick Wallace
Billy Yow (i)

District 7
Democrat
None
Republican
Mike Winstead Jr. (i)

District 8
Democrat
Melvin "Skip" Alston (i)
Greg Woodard
Republican
None

GUILFORD COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
At-large (one seat)
Sandra Alexander
David Crawford
Alan Hawkes
Erik "E.C." Huey
Michael McKinney

District 1
J. Carlvena Foster

District 3
Darlene Garrett (i)
Mike Stone

District 5
Paul Daniels

District 7
Kris B. Cooke (i)

District 9
Amos Quick III (i)

BONDS

Eastern Guilford High School
How much: $45 million
Would provide: A new high school, which is already under construction, to replace the one that burned in 2006.

Guilford County Schools
How much: $412.3 million
Would provide: Four schools; 13 renovation and addition projects; improvements to athletics facilities at Dudley, Grimsley, High Point Central, Northwest, Page, Ragsdale, Southeast and Southwest high schools.

GTCC
How much: $79.5 million
Would provide: A $50.5 million northwest campus; a $6 million aviation training classroom; $23 million for a parking deck, HVAC renovation and land purchase near existing campuses for expansion.

Parks and recreation
How much: $20.2 million
Would provide: $6 million in athletics fields, parking, trails, playground equipment and picnic shelters for Bryan Park at Guilford County; $5 million Hagan-Stone Park renovations; $4 million to greenway construction; $1.2 million Triad Park venture with Forsyth County; $2 million for the miracle field for handicapped children in High Point; $2 million for projects in central Greensboro that could include a
skate park.

Guilford County jail
How much: $114.6 million
Would provide: A 968-bed jail that would receive bids for construction in late 2008.