Here are more comments from members of the Post's Voters Panel on the upcoming primaries. You can find other panelists' comments HERE.

Jan McCanless, unaffiliated: I think next Tuesday's vote will have a great impact on the election. We are, after all, deciding who will be the candidates for major offices around the state, and, also the national election.

This will be an especially historic election, we'll be electing either the first black president, the first female, or the oldest, and, we need to weigh very carefully where all of them stand on the issues. Every vote counts !

I feel, in talking to people around Rowan County, that the economy is once again in the forefront. It's directly impacted by the war, high prices for both gasoline and commodities, unemployment and schools. There is not one topic of discussion affected by the outcome of our election that is not directly influenced by our economy.

Too many people are hurting, too many jobs lost, for us to concentrate on anything but what can be done about it, and how quickly. Listen to your candidates, and determine which of them has our economic interest at heart, and how do they plan to alter the current status quo.

On the state level, we need to be concerned about crime rate, taxes and the condition of our infrastructure. As yet, I haven't heard too many of these issues addressed by our state candidates.

Voting is the only real voice that we, the people have, and the issues are too important to sit this one out !

Daniel Overcash, Republican: What effect do you think the presidential race will have on the vote Tuesday? I think that it will be huge. I predict the tight Democrat primary has energized the Democrats to get out and vote.

I think people will be mainly out for the presidential election, but all politics are local and the Rowan County commissioners' race I believe will draw a lot of voters. Because people are really happy or really upset with the current commissioners.

In my mind the issues are the economy and gas prices. I believe that people think(and rightfully so) that they are NOT better off then they were 4 years ago.

Evelyn McMahon, Democrat: This year's presidential race is by far the most energized one I've seen in my lifetime. And when votes are tabulated in North Carolina next Tuesday, we may have chosen the next president of the United States of America, at this crucial time, when all areas of life are exposed and at risk of diminishing — jobs, education, health care, housing and more.

Regardless of race, gender, economic or social position, the stakes are high for everyone. The time has come to pause the hysteria, and carefully consider who is more apt to lead this country towards a better quality of life for everyone. A very tall task indeed, but not impossible.

We start with a belief that we can be better. If we as a nation believe that, it becomes individual responsibility to vote for the candidate who has evidenced the willingness and ability to move beyond that belief, to policy implementation that we can see, understand and take to the bank.

Patrick Borgquist, Democrat: I believe there will be a huge turnout of voters this election day. I feel that a lot of people are actually interested in this year's presidential race.

The U.S. Senate race seems interesting to me. Since the Democrats knocked out a lot of Republicans in 2006, it will be interesting to see if that trend continues.

I have no doubt that the No. 1 issue with many voters is the economy. That's extremely unfortunate since we have soldiers dying in Iraq trying to do a job they weren't trained for. I was in the Army and I was trained to fight a war, not to be a police officer.

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