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Triangle residents turned out by the thousands Thursday to vote early for public officials from U.S. president to local soil and water conservation supervisors. Many praised the convenience of voting long before Election Day on Nov. 2, when weeks worth of votes will be counted together.
Most said they would have voted anyway, but some said the freedom to vote early encouraged their participation. Early voting opened Thursday and ends Oct. 30. The General Assembly passed a law in 2000 to allow voters to cast ballots starting three weeks before the election, without having to provide an excuse for not being able to vote Election Day.
Wake County voters waited in line for the 8:30 a.m. opening and streamed all day into the county office building in downtown Raleigh --
1,028 of them by day's end.
"
Over 1,000 in a day is a lot," said Cherie Poucher, Wake's elections director. "It wasn't anywhere near this many in 2000."
She attributed the increase to growing public awareness of the early-voting option and widespread interest in the elections.
More than 50,000 Wake voters have registered since the July primary elections, she said.
"Because of our number of new voters, I'm glad they're voting early," Poucher said. "My hope is that many people will take advantage of it. That will cut down on lines on Election Day."
Mike Ashe, director of Durham County's Board of Elections, said he anticipates this year's early and Election Day turnout will be
heavier than ever.
"I think our one-stop voting totals, our mail-in ballot totals, our Election Day totals are going to shatter all the records," he said.
During the 2000 presidential election, about
10,000 people voted early in Durham County, Ashe said. By about 5 p.m. Thursday, at least 1,700 early ballots had been cast, he said. About
20,000 early ballots probably will be cast in Durham this year, he said.
State officials said turnout was brisk across North Carolina.
"What counties that I have heard from,
turnout was heavy -- extremely heavy in comparison to the 2000 and 2002 general elections," said Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections.
Voting in Wake were elderly citizens, downtown office workers, homemakers, families, college students and several political candidates. They comprised
548 Democrats,
348 Republicans and 132 unaffiliated voters. Slightly more than half were men.
Most came out smiling.
"The debate last night got a lot of people excited and out today," said Teresa Davis, Johnston's elections director, referring to the final presidential debate.
Johnston gained more than 5,000 voters since July, she said.
"My mind wasn't going to change between now and then," he said. "So I might as well get it over with today."
A big vote push came from colleges.
Besides the NCCU students, students from Peace College, St. Mary's School and Shaw University arrived en masse to vote in Raleigh.
Some colleges organized their own voter drives. Others coordinated with Vote for America, a national effort of p olitical group Common Cause. All 16 UNC campuses and about a dozen community colleges are participating, said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina.
"Our mission is to promote voter participation," said Matt Liles, vice president of legislative affairs at the UNC Association of Student Governments. "Whether that vote is Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever, we just want you to vote."
Johnnie McLean, deputy director of the State Board of Elections, said it's unclear whe ther the brisk turnout for early voting foretells heavy voting on Nov. 2, when polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. "It has been said that college students don't realize that there is a 6:30 in the morning," McLean said with a grin.
This year, they might.
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