By Staff
Beaufort County adds one-stop voting sites
By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Boards of elections throughout North Carolina will begin mailing out absentee ballots Monday.
The last day to ask for an absentee ballot by mail is Oct. 28, Hopkins said. Absentee ballots must be received by the elections board by 5 p.m. Nov. 3, the day before the Nov. 4 general election.
Meanwhile, Hopkins is searching for a new polling place for voters in the Gilead precinct. The former polling place, Ephesus Free Will Baptist Church, is no longer the precinct’s polling place. The church has decided its building will no longer be used as a polling place.
Cindy Carawan, elections director for Hyde County, said that county’s Board of Elections processed 248 voter-registration forms last month, forms submitted by new voters or voters updating their registration forms for reasons such as name changes, address changes or switching political parties. Carawan said that’s a significant increase compared to most other months.
Dora Bell, Washington County’s elections director, said the number of registered voters in that county increase from 8,400 to 8,800 during the past three months.
Faye Martin, Martin County’s elections director, said that county’s elections office is busy, too.
Across the state, one-stop voting begins Oct. 16 and concludes Nov. 1.
Beaufort County voters may mark ballots at the Board of Elections office, 1308 Highland Drive, Washington, from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. weekdays from Oct. 16 to Oct. 31. One-stop voting will be conducted in Aurora at the Aurora Community Center, 442 Third St., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on two Saturdays, Oct. 18 and Oct. 25. One-stop voting will be conducted in Belhaven in the council chambers at the old town hall (213 E. Main St.) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 18 and Oct. 25.
Beaufort County voters may take advantage of one-stop voting at any of the one-stop voting sites.
The Board of Elections will conduct its annual voter-registration drive during the Sept. 19 Music in the Streets. Elections officials will have a voter-registration table set up on West Main Street (near the Turnage Theater) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In Hyde County, the elections office in Swan Quarter (1372 Main St.) will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays during the one-stop voting period. On Nov. 1, the elections office will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for one-stop voting. Normally, the elections office is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The elections office in Washington County will conduct one-stop voting from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays during the one-stop voting period. The office will conduct one-stop voting from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
The elections office in Martin County (305 E. Main St., Room 120) will conduct one-stop voting from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays during the one-stop voting period and from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. Nov. 1. Martin said voters will be able to participate in one-stop voting in Robersonville from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays during the one-stop voting period and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1. The site for ones-top voting in Robersonville has yet to be determined, Martin said Friday afternoon.
Also, qualified residents may register to vote and mark ballots on the same day during the one-stop voting period. That procedure was used for the first time in North Carolina during the 2007 elections. Because that procedure is permitted only during the early-voting period, it cannot be used on Election Day, on the day of primary elections, before the one-stop voting period or the days between the end of the one-stop voting period and Election Day or on the day of primary elections.