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Published: April 20, 2008
The North Carolina primary on May 6 is less than three weeks away.
Here are answers to some election questions that SAM has recently received:
Q. I have heard about early voting and want to participate. Where are the locations I can go to vote? -- T.O.
A. One-stop early voting began Thursday at the Forsyth County Board of Elections' main office, at 201 N. Chestnut St. in Winston-Salem. For people who are not already registered to vote, same-day voter registration is also available at one-stop early voting locations. If you register at a one-stop early-voting location, you have to vote there and you cannot vote on May 6.
For the next week, the main office is the only place that Forsyth residents can go to vote early. On April 28, eight other one-stop locations will open. For a list of early voting sites, visit www.fcvotes.com.
Forsyth County early voting sites will also be open some weekend hours.
The main office will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 26, and from noon to 5 p.m. on April 27. All one-stop locations will be open one last time from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 3, the Saturday before the primary.
Q. My voting registration is listed as Democrat, but I want to vote for John McCain. Am I able to do this? -- F.I.
A. You will not be able to vote for McCain in the primary. The deadline to switch your party preference was April 11, and only those who are registered as Republican or as "unaffiliated" will have the choice to vote for McCain. You will be able to vote for him in the general election, however, after he goes through the formalities of claiming his party's nomination.
Q. While I know all about Clinton, Obama and McCain, I do not know anything about most of the other candidates for the state and local races. Where can I find more information? -- G.K.
A. You can find information about the candidates such as their biographies and personal statements at the state Board of Elections' Web site, which is www.sboe.state.nc.us. A link to the voter guide can be found on the home page. Households were also mailed a paper copy of this guide last week.
Q. After what happened in Florida in 2000, how can we be sure that our votes in this state are being counted fairly and accurately? -- G.H.
A. Rob Coffman, the director of the Forsyth County Board of Elections, says that there is a system of checks and balances the state has implemented to ensure that all votes are counted. That system, he said, has little room for error.
"We have a fail-safe system," Coffman said. "The state has mandatory auditing, which includes a sampling of races in counties that are chosen at random. This audit lets us know if there are any issues."
All voting equipment is also pre-tested to make sure that it is working properly.
Q. I am being called constantly with recorded messages from the Democratic presidential candidates. As a registered Republican who is also registered on the National Do Not Call Registry, how can they get away with these unsolicited phone calls? -- M.T.
A. Registering your telephone number with the Do Not Call Registry stops many telemarketing calls but not all of them.
As the Federal Trade Commission explains, "Because of limitations in the jurisdiction of the FTC and FCC, calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities and telephone surveyors would still be permitted, as would calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship, or those to whom you've provided express agreement in writing to receive their calls."
Automated political calls annoy enough people that a group named Citizens for Civil Discourse created the National Political Do-Not-Call Registry last October.
But unlike the official national registry, the political registry does not have the force of law behind it. Politicians or telemarketing companies can voluntarily decide to honor the political do-not-call requests, but few have done so.
The effort is controversial because the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants broad protection to political speech. As Politics magazine reported earlier this month, "Consultants say the registry threatens their clients' First Amendment Rights -- not to mention their own wallets."
Also, several states have enacted or are considering restrictions on automated political calls. However, USA Today reports that, "Few states have enforced their robo-call laws, partly out of fear that they violate free-speech protections."
■ E-mail:
AskSAM@wsjournal.com
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■ Write: Ask SAM, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102.
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