Politics

LONG LINE FORMS AS ONE-STOP VOTING STARTS

Sylvia Angel votes during the first hour of one-stop voting in Henderson County on Thursday.

By Bill Moss, Published: October 20, 2016

The intense interest in the 2016 election was dramatically displayed this morning when early voters negotiated a traffic jam, a parking shortage and a wait of more than an hour to cast ballots.

When Henderson County opened its first one-stop voting site at 8:30 a.m. a line had already formed and voters continued to stream in. At 9:15 a.m. 117 voters stood in a line that snaked around two sides of the Board of Elections headquarters at 75 East Central St.
“I like to do it and get it over with,” said Sylvia Angel, who drove from Mills River to the Hendersonville site. “After last night’s debate you better believe I was ready to vote.”

Three more one-stop voting sites open Monday.
Elections Director Beverly Cunningham said the crowd today was bigger than years past, signaling a huge interest in this year’s contentious election at the top of the ticket and down ballot. Polls show the presidential, gubernatorial and U.S. Senate race all within the margin of error and North Carolina is among a handful swing states where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are fighting the hardest.
“Last time we didn’t open one-stop voting until a week from today,” Cunningham said. The Board of Elections expanded the total number of hours in response to a federal appeals court ruling that struck down an effort by the Republican-controlled Legislature to shrink early voting. "We hope to have 30,000 voting" in all forms available before Election day — one-stop and absentee, Cunningham said. That would be 38 percent of the county's 79,000 registered voters. 
Voters quickly filled the limited parking at the elections office and dozens of cars parked along East Central Street and at O’Reilly Auto Parts.
“It’s kind of crowded,” store manager Troy Green said. “We knew it was election time, early voting. We’ll probably tape off a spot for our customers but we have a big parking lot.”
One-stop voting takes place at the Henderson County Board of Elections office, 75 East Central St., off Spartanburg Highway.
Other one-stop voting starts Monday, Oct. 24, and is available at Etowah Library, 101 Brickyard Road, Etowah; Flat Rock Village Hall, 110 Village Center Drive, Flat Rock; and Fletcher Library, 120 Library Road, Fletcher.
One-stop voting hours at the Henderson County Board of Elections office:
• Oct. 20-21: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Oct. 24-28: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday, Oct. 29: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Oct. 21-Nov. 4: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday: Nov. 5: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
One-stop voting hours at Etowah Library, Flat Rock Village Hall and Fletcher Library:
• Oct. 24-28: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday, Oct. 29: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Oct. 31-Nov. 4: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday, Nov. 5: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.