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One-stop voting to start
NEWS-TIMES
LORI WYNN
BEAUFORT — Voters who failed to register by Friday have missed the deadline to vote on Election Day at their polling place.
But they still have a chance to vote in the general election during the one-stop absentee voting period with in-person registration that opens Thursday and extends to Nov. 1, three days prior to the Nov. 4 election.
To prepare for what is expected to be a busy election, County Board of Elections Director Lindy Lewis said elections officials will be busy in the coming days training workers who will man the polls during the one-stop voting period.
But voters participating in one-stop voting and in-person registration can expect things to be pretty much the same as they were during the primaries – with one exception.
“Voters will be asked to state their name and their address but not their party affiliation because everyone will have the same ballot,” Mrs. Lewis said.
Although the county saw long lines during the last presidential election in 2004, even during the one-stop period, Mrs. Lewis said she didn’t think that would be the case this time since there are now three one-stop locations across the county — in Cape Carteret, Morehead City and Beaufort.
“But my biggest fear is people are going to come to the elections office when our Beaufort location has changed,” she said.
While the one-stop voting site in town in previous elections has been at the elections office in the Jones Village Shopping Center, it has been relocated for all but the last day of one-stop voting to alleviate potential crowding in the elections office.
The new location for this town is Bridgeway Church of the Nazarene, 100 Lockhart Lane.
The County Board of Elections has three regular one-stop voting sites for the general elections. Those locations and their hours of operation are as follows (all locations are closed Saturday and Sunday except where noted):
• Bridgeway Church of the Nazarene, 100 Lockhart Lane, Beaufort – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 1-31 and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
• Western Park Community Center, 275 Old Highway 58, Cedar Point – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 16-31 and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
• Crystal Coast Church of the Nazarene, 4311 Country Club Road, Morehead City – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 16-31.
• County elections board office in Jones Village Shop-ping Center, 1510 Live Oak St., Beaufort – 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
The one-stop voting period is held through Nov. 1, just three days before the general election and allows voters to register and vote all on the same day.
Voters who are already registered may update their information like their address, during this time but cannot change their party affiliation. Voters who register for the first time during the one-stop period can only vote during the one-stop period and cannot cast a ballot on Nov. 4.
Citizens participating during the one-stop voting and in-person registration period who are not registered will have to fill out a voter registration application and provide proof of residency by showing the elections official an appropriate form of ID with the resident’s current address.
Acceptable forms of ID include: a state driver’s license with current address; utility bill with name and current address; any government issued document with name and current address, such as a passport, military ID, fishing or hunting license, vehicle registration, property tax bill or birth certificate; student photo ID with a document from the school showing name and current address; paycheck stub from an employer or W-2 statement; or a bank statement or bank-issued credit card statement.
As of Sept. 30, a total of 46,428 county residents have registered to vote, according to the County Board of Elections Web site. Of that number, 18,923, or 40.76 percent, are Republican, 15,775, or 33.98 percent, are Democrat and 11,717, or 25.26, are unaffiliated. Also, 13 residents are registered as Libertarian.
Mrs. Lewis said there were still about 600 more registrations the office still had to process and added that the final registration numbers for the county would not be available until at least the end of this week.
Voters who are concerned about their status can check their registration online at the State Board of Elections Web site at www.sboe.state.nc.us by following the link for voter registrations. County residents may also call the County Board of Elections at 728-8460 to have elections staff look up a registration status.
A look at the ballot
This season’s election consists of several of what many voters may consider big races on the local, state and of course national levels. And with so many names on the ballot, it’s a good idea for voters to know what to expect when they hit the polls either during one-stop voting or on Election Day Nov. 4.
“We have lots of sample ballots available in the office and on the (county elections board) Web site (at www.carteretcountyboe.org)”Mrs. Lewis said. “People can mark their sample ballot and bring it to the polls — they are allowed to take that in with them when they vote.”
Looking at the ballot, voters will see the “presidential contest” followed by the “partisan offices” and then “nonpartisan office.” Voters have the option to vote a straight party ballot – Republican, Democrat or Libertarian; however, the directions for straight party voting may be a bit confusing.
Mrs. Lewis explained that to vote a straight party ticket, a voter can either select a party under the “straight party voting” section on the ballot – doing so will mark the candidate of that party for each partisan office – or mark the party candidates for each partisan office by hand.
However, voters must mark their choice in the presidential race. That contest is not included in straight-party voting.
But if someone wants to vote a straight party ballot but wants to vote across the aisle for one or two offices, Mrs. Lewis said the voter can simply mark their party choice for straight party voting, then go to the office where they want to vote for another party and fill in the circle next to that candidate. Although both circles will be marked, she said it would not be counted as an over-vote.
“It would not be an over-vote – having both marked means you have overridden the original vote,” she said.
A prime example is the contest for the County Board of Commissioners District 4, which consists of a Republican candidate and an unaffiliated candidate.
If a voter wants to vote straight Republican for all offices except District 4 of the county board, they may mark “Republican” under “straight party” and then go to the District 4 office under “partisan offices” and fill in the mark next to the unaffiliated candidate. Both circles would be marked in that office, but the vote for the Republican candidate would be overridden by the vote for the unaffiliated candidate.
Likewise, if a voter wanted to vote a straight Democratic ballot, he or she could do so with straight party voting. But to vote for any candidate for the District 4 seat, since there is not a Democratic candidate, that voter would have to mark his or her choice by hand.
The same rules apply for straight party voters who want to vote in any of the soil and water conservation and judicial races, all of which are nonpartisan and at the bottom of the ballot. Because those races are nonpartisan, anyone voting a straight party ballot will have to mark their choice for those offices by hand.
Voters also have the right not to vote in particular races if they so choose. Not voting in any one office or race will have no bearing on the rest of the ballot, County Elections Director Lewis said – it would simply be counted as an under-vote for technical purposes.
While the ballot’s directions may be a little less than clear, Mrs. Lewis said the State Board of Elections has approved Carteret’s ballot.
“The state has a template for the ballot setup – we enter the names of candidates in based on race … and then forward it (the template) to state and it creates the ballot order,” she said. “All we really do on the local level is put in candidates’ names based on the filing system.”
She said PrintElect, the vendor who supplies the voting equipment and does ballot coding for most of the state, allows the state and the county to monitor the process of the ballot via Internet as the ballot is being created.
When it’s finished, a proof of the ballot has to be approved by county and then by the state before being printed.
For more information on the upcoming general elections, one-stop voting or in-person registration, please visit the County Board of Elections Web site at www.carteretcountyboe.org or the State Board of Elections Web site at www.sboe.state.nc.us.
BEAUFORT — Voters who failed to register by Friday have missed the deadline to vote on Election Day at their polling place.
But they still have a chance to vote in the general election during the one-stop absentee voting period with in-person registration that opens Thursday and extends to Nov. 1, three days prior to the Nov. 4 election.
To prepare for what is expected to be a busy election, County Board of Elections Director Lindy Lewis said elections officials will be busy in the coming days training workers who will man the polls during the one-stop voting period.
But voters participating in one-stop voting and in-person registration can expect things to be pretty much the same as they were during the primaries – with one exception.
“Voters will be asked to state their name and their address but not their party affiliation because everyone will have the same ballot,” Mrs. Lewis said.
Although the county saw long lines during the last presidential election in 2004, even during the one-stop period, Mrs. Lewis said she didn’t think that would be the case this time since there are now three one-stop locations across the county — in Cape Carteret, Morehead City and Beaufort.
“But my biggest fear is people are going to come to the elections office when our Beaufort location has changed,” she said.
While the one-stop voting site in town in previous elections has been at the elections office in the Jones Village Shopping Center, it has been relocated for all but the last day of one-stop voting to alleviate potential crowding in the elections office.
The new location for this town is Bridgeway Church of the Nazarene, 100 Lockhart Lane.
The County Board of Elections has three regular one-stop voting sites for the general elections. Those locations and their hours of operation are as follows (all locations are closed Saturday and Sunday except where noted):
• Bridgeway Church of the Nazarene, 100 Lockhart Lane, Beaufort – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 1-31 and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
• Western Park Community Center, 275 Old Highway 58, Cedar Point – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 16-31 and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
• Crystal Coast Church of the Nazarene, 4311 Country Club Road, Morehead City – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 16-31.
• County elections board office in Jones Village Shop-ping Center, 1510 Live Oak St., Beaufort – 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
The one-stop voting period is held through Nov. 1, just three days before the general election and allows voters to register and vote all on the same day.
Voters who are already registered may update their information like their address, during this time but cannot change their party affiliation. Voters who register for the first time during the one-stop period can only vote during the one-stop period and cannot cast a ballot on Nov. 4.
Citizens participating during the one-stop voting and in-person registration period who are not registered will have to fill out a voter registration application and provide proof of residency by showing the elections official an appropriate form of ID with the resident’s current address.
Acceptable forms of ID include: a state driver’s license with current address; utility bill with name and current address; any government issued document with name and current address, such as a passport, military ID, fishing or hunting license, vehicle registration, property tax bill or birth certificate; student photo ID with a document from the school showing name and current address; paycheck stub from an employer or W-2 statement; or a bank statement or bank-issued credit card statement.
As of Sept. 30, a total of 46,428 county residents have registered to vote, according to the County Board of Elections Web site. Of that number, 18,923, or 40.76 percent, are Republican, 15,775, or 33.98 percent, are Democrat and 11,717, or 25.26, are unaffiliated. Also, 13 residents are registered as Libertarian.
Mrs. Lewis said there were still about 600 more registrations the office still had to process and added that the final registration numbers for the county would not be available until at least the end of this week.
Voters who are concerned about their status can check their registration online at the State Board of Elections Web site at www.sboe.state.nc.us by following the link for voter registrations. County residents may also call the County Board of Elections at 728-8460 to have elections staff look up a registration status.
A look at the ballot
This season’s election consists of several of what many voters may consider big races on the local, state and of course national levels. And with so many names on the ballot, it’s a good idea for voters to know what to expect when they hit the polls either during one-stop voting or on Election Day Nov. 4.
“We have lots of sample ballots available in the office and on the (county elections board) Web site (at www.carteretcountyboe.org)”Mrs. Lewis said. “People can mark their sample ballot and bring it to the polls — they are allowed to take that in with them when they vote.”
Looking at the ballot, voters will see the “presidential contest” followed by the “partisan offices” and then “nonpartisan office.” Voters have the option to vote a straight party ballot – Republican, Democrat or Libertarian; however, the directions for straight party voting may be a bit confusing.
Mrs. Lewis explained that to vote a straight party ticket, a voter can either select a party under the “straight party voting” section on the ballot – doing so will mark the candidate of that party for each partisan office – or mark the party candidates for each partisan office by hand.
However, voters must mark their choice in the presidential race. That contest is not included in straight-party voting.
But if someone wants to vote a straight party ballot but wants to vote across the aisle for one or two offices, Mrs. Lewis said the voter can simply mark their party choice for straight party voting, then go to the office where they want to vote for another party and fill in the circle next to that candidate. Although both circles will be marked, she said it would not be counted as an over-vote.
“It would not be an over-vote – having both marked means you have overridden the original vote,” she said.
A prime example is the contest for the County Board of Commissioners District 4, which consists of a Republican candidate and an unaffiliated candidate.
If a voter wants to vote straight Republican for all offices except District 4 of the county board, they may mark “Republican” under “straight party” and then go to the District 4 office under “partisan offices” and fill in the mark next to the unaffiliated candidate. Both circles would be marked in that office, but the vote for the Republican candidate would be overridden by the vote for the unaffiliated candidate.
Likewise, if a voter wanted to vote a straight Democratic ballot, he or she could do so with straight party voting. But to vote for any candidate for the District 4 seat, since there is not a Democratic candidate, that voter would have to mark his or her choice by hand.
The same rules apply for straight party voters who want to vote in any of the soil and water conservation and judicial races, all of which are nonpartisan and at the bottom of the ballot. Because those races are nonpartisan, anyone voting a straight party ballot will have to mark their choice for those offices by hand.
Voters also have the right not to vote in particular races if they so choose. Not voting in any one office or race will have no bearing on the rest of the ballot, County Elections Director Lewis said – it would simply be counted as an under-vote for technical purposes.
While the ballot’s directions may be a little less than clear, Mrs. Lewis said the State Board of Elections has approved Carteret’s ballot.
“The state has a template for the ballot setup – we enter the names of candidates in based on race … and then forward it (the template) to state and it creates the ballot order,” she said. “All we really do on the local level is put in candidates’ names based on the filing system.”
She said PrintElect, the vendor who supplies the voting equipment and does ballot coding for most of the state, allows the state and the county to monitor the process of the ballot via Internet as the ballot is being created.
When it’s finished, a proof of the ballot has to be approved by county and then by the state before being printed.
For more information on the upcoming general elections, one-stop voting or in-person registration, please visit the County Board of Elections Web site at www.carteretcountyboe.org or the State Board of Elections Web site at www.sboe.state.nc.us.
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