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The last day to vote before Election Day, Nov. 3, is Saturday—and many Beaufort County residents have exercised their ability to vote early this year.

As of Thursday night, 53.40% of Beaufort County’s 33,930 registered voters had already weighed in on this year’s election, according to Kellie Hopkins, director of Beaufort County Board of Elections.

In an effort to determine which polling locations, if any, needed more voting booths on Election Day, Hopkins ran a report tallying how many voters in each precinct had already voted, and she said she was surprised by some of the numbers.

“The Gilead Precinct, which is Cypress Landing, has already voted 71%,” Hopkins said. “It’s crazy, the turnout rates, and that’s all over the state — the state is up to 50%.”

With lower early voting turnout, the Pinetown, Pantego, Hunters Bridge and North Creek precincts will be the recipients of the additional voting booths, which will allow more people to vote at the same time and speed up the process, in case of heavy turnout on Election Day.

“They’re the ones that are going to have more people,” Hopkins said. “On Election Day, I think it’s going to be lighter turnout than I thought we would have, not because we’re going to have less voters but because more people have voted early.”

Early voting precinct numbers are:

• Pinetown, 37.61%;
• Pantego, 39.96%;
• Hunters Bridge, 40.64%;
• North Creek, 45.39%;
• Edward, 47.19%;
• PS Jones-Washington Ward 3, 47.95%;
• Bath, 48.12%;
• Belhaven, 48.73%;
• Aurora, 50.14%;
• Blounts Creek, 52.67%;
• Old Ford, 53.12%;
• Woodards Pond, 53.17%;
• Tranters Creek, 53.84%;
• Washington Ward 1, 54.06%;
• Washington Ward 2, 55.16%;
• Chocowinity, 55.34%;
• Beaver Dam, 56.20%;
• River Road, 56.32%;
• Washington Park, 57.69%;
• Washington Ward 4, 61.92%;
• Gilead, 71.69%.

Saturday — the final day of early voting — polling sites are open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

One-stop early voting sites in Beaufort County are as follows:

• Aurora — Aurora Community Building, 442 Third St.
• Belhaven — John A. Wilkinson Center, 144 W. Main St.
• Chocowinity — Chocowinity Fire Department, 512 N.C. Highway 33 East
• Washington — Beaufort County Board of Elections, 1308 Highland Drive, Suite 104

On Election Day, precincts open to voting at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.

Reminder: due to COVID-19 and space limitations, Washington Ward 2 voters who would normally vote at the Washington Fire Department on Market Street on Election Day will be voting at the Washington Civic Center this year. The Washington Civic Center is located at 110 Gladden St.