Early voting opens Thursday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 13, 2010 1:46 PM
One-stop early voting for the May 4 partisan primary will begin Thursday morning and continue through May 1 at the Wayne County Board of Elections office, 209 S. Williams St.
That will be the county's only one-stop location, Board of Elections Director Vickie Reed said. There are no local contests on the ballot. Those will be on the November ballot.
"We think we can handle the (light) percentages we are looking for," she said.
One-stop voting hours will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday, May 1, will be the final day for one-stop voting, with the office open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Along with one-stop voting, qualified residents may register in person and vote at a one-stop site in their county of residence during that period. Same-day registration is not permitted on Election Day.
To register, people must fill out a voter registration application and provide proof of residency at a one-stop voting site in their county of residence. That proof must include the person's current name and address.
Acceptable forms of identification include:
* North Carolina driver's license with current address
* utility bill with name and current address
* telephone or mobile phone bill
* electric or gas bill
* cable television bill
* water or sewage bill
* document with name and current address from a local, state, or U.S. government agency, such as a passport, government-issued photo ID or U.S. military ID; a license to hunt, fish, own a gun, etc.; a property or other tax bill; automotive or vehicle registration; certified documentation of naturalization; a public housing or social service agency document; a check, invoice, or letter from a government agency; birth certificate; student photo ID along with a document from the school showing the student's name and current address
* paycheck or paycheck stub from an employer or a W-2 statement
* bank statement or bank-issued credit card statement.
The registration application cannot be fully processed until the required information is provided.
Registered voters may also update their address and change vital information in an existing registration record at the one-stop site, but they are not allowed to change their party affiliation during the one-stop voting period that precedes a partisan primary.
Requests for absentee by mail ballots began March 15 and will continue through April 27 at 5 p.m. May 3 at 5 p.m. is the deadline for returning the ballots.
A change in state elections laws will allow ballots to be accepted up to three days after May 3 provided they are postmarked by May 3 with an official U.S. Post Office stamp.
A handwritten request for an absentee ballot from the voter or near relative must include the following:
* name of voter
* residential address of voter
* mailing address of voter (if different from residential address)
* date of birth of voter
* signature of voter or near relative (indicate relationship with voter).
A near relative is a spouse, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, stepparent or stepchild.
"As always we can use poll workers," Ms. Reed said.
People interested in volunteering to work the polls should complete the form on the Board of Elections' Web site, www.waynegov.com, and click on departments and select Board of Elections, or they may call the elections office at 731-1431.
"We will be more than happy to take their names and see about getting them scheduled," she said.
Ms. Reed noted that there has been one precinct change, but in the site name only.
Precinct 13 at 401 N. Oak Forest Road had been located at Kingdom Life Ministries. That church has moved and the church in the building now is Family of Faith Community Church.
Cards have been mailed to voters in that precinct notifying them of the name change.