With two and a half days left in the early voting period, voting in Aurora, Belhaven and Chocowinity begins today and continues through early Saturday afternoon.

The satellite office in each of those precincts opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. today and Friday, plus being open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Aurora polling place is at the Aurora Community Building, 442 Third St., Aurora. The Belhaven polling place is at the John A. Wilkinson Center, 144 W. Main St., Belhaven. The Chocowinity polling place is at the Chocowinity Fire Department, 512 E. North Carolina Highway 33, Chocowinity.

Early voting also continues today and Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Beaufort County Board of Elections office, 1308 Highland Drive, Washington.

As of Tuesday evening, 1,196 voters markedballots early. Voters who do not vote early will be able to mark ballots Tuesday during primaries. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. that day.

Since early voting began March 3, there has been no issue with voters not producing valid photographic IDs, according o Anita Bullock Branch, deputy director of elections for Beaufort County. “It’s being going smoothly,” she said Wednesday.

A new state law requiring voters to have valid photo IDs took effect this year. There is ongoing litigation regarding the voter ID laws. A ruling in one case brought by opponents to the new laws likely will come after the March 15 primaries.

“We expect it (early voting) to pick up Thursday and continue through Saturday,” Branch said.

Poll workers and precinct officials underwent training Wednesday to prepare them for Tuesday’s primaries.

In Beaufort County, more Republicans than Democrats and more women than men have voted during the early voting period, so far.

Some Beaufort County voters will use new polling places for the March 15 primaries.

The North Creek precinct polling place was switched from the Winsteadville Community Center to the Bethany United Methodist Church’s fellowship hall. The church is located at 2766 South Savannah Road, Belhaven. The Edward precinct polling place switched from the Edward Volunteer Fire Department to the fellowship hall at Edward Christian Church, 23 S. Academy St., Edward.

Affected voters have been mailed notices concerning the changes, according to the Beaufort County Board of Elections. The other polling places in the county remain the same.

Though the deadline to register to vote in Tuesday’s primaries has passed, there is a remedy for people who want to vote in the primaries. It’s called same-day registration. People who are not registered to vote in their respective counties may register during the early voting period. As the result of a preliminary injunction granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, same-day registration is allowed for now. This option is the object of ongoing litigation in federal court.