NC counties prepare for Thursday start of in-person early voting

Elections officials across North Carolina are preparing for the 17-day early voting period that starts Thursday, Oct, 15. 

Citizens are able to vote in-person at locations in their counties. Those who missed the regular voter registration deadline are able to register or update their registration and vote at the same time at early voting sites. Voters who use mail-in ballots may return them at early voting sites. 

Early voting has consistently been the most popular way to cast ballots in North Carolina general elections since 2016, Catawba College political scientist Michael Bitzer has found. 

Wake County will have 18 early voting sites, the most the county has ever had for a midterm election, said Wake Elections Director Olivia McCall. 

Delivery and set up of tables and voting booths at early voting locations started last week, she said. 

McCall suggested voters check their sample ballots, which are available online at the NC Board of Elections voter lookup site, to familiarize themselves with contests and ballot questions. Voters may print out and bring in their sample ballots to the polls to use as a reference as they mark the real thing. 

Early voting turnout ebbs and peaks during the 17 days. The busiest days in Wake tend to be toward the end of the early voting period, McCall said, with the last day producing the longest lines. Early voting ends this year on Oct. 31. Hours around lunch time also tend to be busy, she said. 

Wake County voters can find early voting locations and wait times at readytovote.com. The site also has bus routes to early voting sites, sample ballots, and other information for Wake voters. 

On Election Day, voters must go to their assigned polling place. Same-day registration is not allowed on Election Day, and mail-in voters cannot hand-deliver their ballots to polling precincts on Election Day, 

Setting early voting schedules came with some political turbulence this year, with Democrats and Republicans at both the state and county levels differing on locations and Sunday voting hours.

NC Board of Elections votes along party lines to reject most Sunday early voting hours

In Wake, Democratic and Republican elections board members were initially divided over an early voting site at the Talley Student Union at the center of the main campus. Republican members pushed through their preferred alternative, a building at the edge of the main campus, the NC State University Western Boulevard Business Services building at 1220 Varsity Drive. 

Wake has Sunday early voting hours. 

Tables and voting booths were set up at the business services building last week, McCall said. The building has a good layout for voting equipment and ample parking, she said. 

The business services building is about a mile from the Talley Center. Students who opposed moving the early voting site were worried about not having the time to fit in walking to the business services building with their class and study schedules. 

Pack the Polls, the NC State voter education and engagement project, is sponsoring a free shuttle service from Talley and Centennial Campus to the business services building from Oct. 21 to Oct. 31.