News

Early voting in county exceeds 2014 number

By Bill Moss, Published: October 30, 2018

With 3½ days of early voting left, Henderson County has already recorded more voters than four years ago in the last mid-term election.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Board of Elections had counted 18,964 voters, exceeding the total in 2014 of 16,997. Henderson County followed the state trend of higher early voting totals thanks to longer hours and more days than ever. Polls were open three hours longer per day and one day of Sunday voting was offered for the first time in Henderson County.

Statewide, ballots cast so far in the 2018 general election exceeded all ballots cast early during the 2014 midterm election on Monday.

As of 3:30 p.m. Monday, 1,225,892 North Carolinians had voted early, up 4.4 percent from 1,174,184 in 2014. The 2014 number was surpassed with six days remaining in this year’s in-person early voting period, which ends Saturday (November 3). Also, by-mail absentee ballots are still being accepted by county boards of elections across the state.

However, with more than 7 million registered voters in North Carolina, nearly 6 million people still have not cast ballots in this important election season.

“We hope millions of voters who have not yet made their voices heard will do so, either during early voting or on Election Day,” Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement, said in a news release.

In the 2014 midterms, final statewide voter turnout was 44 percent, or more than 2.9 million votes. Through 3:30 p.m. Monday, 17.3 percent of registered voters had cast ballots in 2018.

In 2014, the in-person early voting period was 10 days. This year, the early voting period spans 18 days. Early voting schedules and locations vary by county. Voters can find their county’s early voting schedules here: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/ossite/.

In North Carolina, early voting includes in-person absentee voting, also called “one-stop” voting, as well as absentee by-mail voting.

On Election Day Nov. 6 polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Click here to look up your polling place..