A long tail of voters lined outside the New Hanover County Board of Elections office Thursday morning for the kickoff of one-stop early voting.
“You realize it’s a presidential election,” said Marvin McFadyen, Elections Director, noting voters were waiting to cast their ballots as soon as his office opened.
One-stop voting allows eligible residents to register and cast their ballot all in one visit well ahead of Election Day, which falls on Nov. 6 this year.
“It is day one” of one-stop, McFadyen added, “so everyone wants to get it out of the way.”
To manage the crowds Thursday, the office had roughly 100 staffers or volunteers scattered between the five one-stop sites now open across New Hanover County. (Click here for a list, as well as for one-stop sites in Brunswick and Pender counties.)
But the one-stop period will run until Nov. 3, the Saturday before Election Day, to assure everyone has a chance, McFadyen emphasized.
Early crowds lined in Brunswick and Pender counties as well.
“Oh my gosh, we are swamped,” Pender County Deputy Elections Director Ann Balogh said just after noon on Thursday. “We’ve got them lined up out our back door.”
Around that time in Brunswick County, elections officials had recorded more than 1,100 ballots. “Quite busy,” Deputy Elections Director Sara Knotts said.
Each elections office said it would tally or update its voting numbers at the end of the business day.
According to the N.C. State Board of Elections, New Hanover County as of Oct. 13 had 157,564 registered voters, a number the one-stop period will boost. Brunswick County had 82,217 signed up by the same date. In Pender County, which has a much smaller population, the number was 35,800.
Contact Ben Brown at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
