County voters turn out early to cast ballots
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 4, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Alice Buck, left, gets her voting information confirmed by poll judge Staris Morgan early today at the poll at WAGES on Royall Avenue. Voting was steady at polls across Wayne County, local election officials said.
Voters were waiting in line this morning at several polling places around the city for the polls to open at 6:30.
But after that initial rush, the numbers dropped to "slow and steady" for voting in today's midterm elections.
The county's 30 polling locations will remain open until 7:30 p.m. People who are in line at that time will still be allowed to vote.
By 10:30 a.m., a few more than 200 people had voted at the Pikeville Fire Station and at the New Hope Fire Station. The totals were between 150 and 160 at each of the remaining 28 precincts across the county, said Rosemary Blizzard, Wayne County elections director.
The voting has been very "spread out" across the county, she said.
"We have not heard or seen anything that we haven't seen or heard before," she said.
"It has been just a real steady turnout," said Nancy Mills, chief judge at the Belfast location. "It is almost as if they know when the last person in line has voted and then somebody else steps in. Everything is going smoothly."
Ms. Mills said it is not unusual to have a dozen or so people waiting when the doors open.
People were steadily coming in, and by 9:30, close to 160 people had voted.
Ms. Mills said a lot of people who are eligible to vote at the first station had taken advantage of early voting. Still, the location is traditionally a busy site, she said.
Like her counterparts in other locations, Ms. Mills said she expected to see an upswing in turnout around lunchtime and then again as people get off work.
Outside of the station, volunteers passed out cards encouraging people to vote for certain candidates.
Bobbie and Tom Dorman of Goldsboro said there was no particular race that had brought them to the polls.
Rather, it is just important that people vote and exercise their constitutional right to vote, they said.
Both said they never miss a chance to cast a ballot.
Over at the WAGES site, Chief Judge Blair Elliott said the morning had been error-free except for one brief problem with a computer, which was quickly resolved.
"It has been pretty steady, and we are busier than usual," he said.
Like the other polling site, there are signs alerting voters that they do not need to show a photo identification to vote, although some people offered it, he said.
Voters are reminded that they will need the ID in 2016 and told what types will be acceptable.