One-stop voting begins
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on October 21, 2016 10:03 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Joe Carlyle checks in before voting Thursday at the Wayne County Board of Elections. Within the first two hours of early voting, 300 residents had already cast ballots. Early voting will continue until Nov. 5.
Early voting began Thursday at 8 a.m. at the Wayne County Board of Elections, and 300 people completed their ballots in the first two hours.
But Dane Beavers, the board's director, said it was a low early turnout compared to past presidential elections.
"In comparison to 2012, we had five sites open at the same time, and there was 200 people in line at the library when we opened," he said.
"I'm still a little bit surprised at the lack of turnout for the first day of voting."
Beavers believes one reason for the low amount of voters could stem from people being undecided about which presidential candidate will receive their vote.
He said people have told him they will not vote because they do not like Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump.
Harry Monk showed up early to vote so he could miss the crowd, and he knew who was getting his vote.
"I'm a stone Democrat up and down," he said. "I'm a Democrat born and a Democrat bred. When I die, I'll be a Democrat dead."
Beavers said there are 33,040 registered Democrats in the county and 23,769 Republicans. He said there are 17,646 unaffiliated voters.
Wayne County has been a Democratic area for many years, Beavers said. He said the area, however, is becoming Republican as well.
"I think now it's probably working towards more of a little 50/50 kind of thing," he said.
Beavers encouraged people to vote early.
"You can come up, park your car, and walk in and vote, cast your ballot within 10-15 minutes and be on your way," he said.