1,879 hit one-stop voting's first day
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on October 17, 2008 1:46 PM
Nearly 2,000 Wayne County voters cast ballots Thursday on the first day of one-stop early voting, and more than 1,000 of them voted at the Wayne County Public Library on Ash Street, county Elections Board Director Vickie Reed said.
"The library seems to be their favorite place to vote," she said today.
Down the road on U.S. 117, there were 456 votes cast in the Dudley Fire Station at 4533 U.S. 117 Alternate and another 379 at the Woodmen of the World building at 3733 U.S. 117 north of the city.
Ms. Reed said she was not surprised 1,044 voted at the library.
"We were expecting it," she said.
But today, she said, poll workers were hoping more voters would visit the other two sites at the Dudley fire station, 4533 U.S. 117 Alternate South, Dudley, and at the Woodmen of the World building, 3733 U.S. 117 North,
Two additional voting sites will be open Oct. 25 through Nov. 1 at the Fremont Town Hall, 120 E. Main St., and at the Johnston Ambulance Service at 2803 U.S. 70 W.
Hours of operation will be Saturday, Oct. 25, through Friday, Oct. 31, from 1 to 5 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 1, the final day, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, the hours at the three main locations will be Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. And on the final day of early voting, Nov. 1, the three main locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Election officials have said they expect a big turnout on Nov. 4 -- as high as 60 percent. As many as half of those votes are expected to be cast ahead of Election Day.
Wayne has about 66,000 registered voters.
Voter registration leaped in the county since the May primary, with more than 4,000 names added to the rolls. New Democrats outnumber new Republicans 2 to 1.