I couldn't resist posting that. (The rest of this is a serious reply.)
Like you, I will vote D in the general election.
As an unaffiliated voter in red Western NC, I've voted in the GOPQ primary a few times over the 20 years I've been living here. I've voted in primaries against meadows and cawthorn (they won anyway) and against our former sheriff and a local judge (they were defeated).
It's more helpful to do this for local elections, in which case you need to do your own research, and grit your teeth. I wanted to vote for the least offensive candidate, which is hard when they all offend me.
This was my method: I went to http://www.vote411.org/
You can find your local ballot there, and sometimes there's a statement from the candidates, but I don't count on that. I googled and went to their websites to read about them (that was the hard part!) I ruled out the extreme candidates easily; they are "proud Christian nationalist" or "protecting the unborn" or "freedom caucus member" or "endorsed by tfg" or "America first" and other wacky statements. Usually one will be far more extreme, and that's the one to vote against. I make a list of who is the least evil for each race, and bring it with me when I vote.
Reading the drivel on their websites is a nasty and time consuming chore, but I take this more seriously since tfg. I figure if I'm voting in their primary I have to learn about them so I can vote against the worst ones in each contest. It's my civic duty! (When I voted in the R primary a decade ago against the sheriff, I hadn't researched the other R candidates and had no clue who to "pick" so I decided to be more prepared if I voted in their primary in the future.)
I hope this will help you figure out how to vote in their primary. I'll be working on this "project" for the next few weeks myself, as I can only handle it in dribs and drabs. I've never written in a candidate, but your post reminded me of that option, in which case I'll need to consider who I might write in. That might be fun, and the possibilities are endless!
Adding a link to NC league of women voters, which has lots of information for and about state and local elections. They are nonpartisan.
https://www.lwv.org/local-leagues/lwv-north-carolina
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