{"biography":"According to the North Carolina voter file, Earl Ray Cox is a registered voter in Ashe County, North Carolina, registered since 2006 (20 years), with party affiliation listed as Republican [1].\n\nThe voter file shows Earl Ray Cox's year of birth as 1961; NC publishes only the year of birth in its bulk voter export, so day and month are not part of the public record [1].\n\nThe voter history file shows 10 elections voted in since 2016, most recently the 2026-03-03 primary election [2].\n\nThis summary draws only from the public North Carolina voter registration and history records. No additional published biographical information was located. Voters with personal knowledge of Earl Ray Cox can reach ballotproject.org with corrections or additions.\n\n**Update: Cox lost the March 3, 2026 Republican primary for Ashe County Sheriff.** He placed third of three candidates with 257 votes; B. Phil Howell won the Republican nomination with 2,634 votes. Cox will not appear on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot for this seat, per certified North Carolina State Board of Elections results [3].\n\n## Sources\n[1] [North Carolina State Board of Elections \u2014 Voter Search](https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/)\n\n[2] North Carolina State Board of Elections voter history file (`ncvhis_Statewide`), published at [dl.ncsbe.gov](https://dl.ncsbe.gov/)\n\n[3] North Carolina State Board of Elections, certified March 3, 2026 election results (`results_pct_20260303.txt`), https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/ENRS/2026_03_03/results_pct_20260303.zip \u2014 accessed 2026-07-24\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"ashe","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Ashe County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Earl","fullname":"Earl Ray Cox","lastname":"Cox","middlename":"Ray","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Ashe County Sheriff","county":"ashe","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"ashe","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"ashe","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Ashe County Sheriff","county":"ashe","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"ashe","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"REP","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"summary":"Per the NC voter file: REP voter in Ashe County since 2006.","terms":[],"token":"5bb7bc47ad9c02bf"}