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Clinton, Obama race fuels heavy voter turnout
Journal photo by David Rolfe
Pauline Moore, right, with her grand daughter, Mariah Moore, center, signs in to vote at Carver School. At left is precinct worker Roberta Collins, and at second left is voter Monica Cherry.
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Published: May 6, 2008
Updated: 05/06/2008 03:59 pm
Voters flocked to the polls today in numbers that are expected to set records in North Carolina, driven by intense interest in the Democratic presidential primary between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Nearly half a million people voted early or cast an absentee ballots before today - more than half the total number of voters who cast a ballot overall during the 2004 primary.
In Forsyth County, more than 17,000 early-voting ballots were cast, according to county election officials. Black voters accounted for more than half of those - 9,427 ballots. Female voters also came out in droves. Women outnumbered men in early voting, 10,602 to 6,387. Most of the ballots cast were in Democratic contests, despite Republican primaries in the governor's race and the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. Of the more than 17,000 ballots cast, 1,754 were cast in Republican contests.
The numbers in Forsyth County appear to reflect larger statewide trends.
Gary Bartlett, director of the State Board of Elections, said that 85 percent of unaffiliated voters were choosing the Democratic ballot.
Bartlett said that turnout today was "steady ... not tremendously heavy."
Bartlett said there have been about a dozen instances of voting machine problems. He said that compares with about 120 problem reports in 2006 when most counties had new voting machines.
Bartlett also said there had been fewer than 10 complaints from unaffiliated voters who said they couldn't get a Democratic ballot they requested.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, planned an election-night rally for tonight at N.C. State University.
A crowd of about 200 people greeted Clinton's No. 1 supporter, former President Bill Clinton, at the Forsyth County Government Center this afternoon.
He was making an election-day swing through the state, urging people to go to the polls.
He told the crowd that a writer had made fun of him by saying, "Next thing you know, Bill Clinton will be taking Wal-Mart greeters to the polls."
Clinton said that he considered that a good idea and not a put down. He and his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, believe in shared opportunity.
"If you can think of anybody you can take to the polls..." he said, as he urged the crowd to get out the vote for his wife.
Clinton was about 45 minutes late, but his timing didn't dampen enthusiasm for his presence.
People held up signs and cell phones to get a picture of him. Many people in the crowd worked at the courthouse, city hall or downtown companies. They had slipped out of work or had planned on a late lunch hour in order to see Clinton, who was scheduled to arrive at 1.
Like several people in the crowd, T.L.Brown, an attorney with Wachovia Bank, said that he is voting for Obama, but that the opportunity to see an ex-president was too good to turn down.
Brown said that he thinks the former President has been a help to his wife's campaign, and that in recent weeks Obama may have been hurt by the controversy over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"I think that it's gotten more of the working-class Americans to question his credibility more," he said of Obama.
We have to turn the economy around, Clinton told the crowd. We have to bring the soldiers home from Iraq. We have a gas crisis. We have a health care crisis.
John Nikas, 38, the owner of the Courtside Cafe, was among those in the crowd who shook hands with Clinton.
But Nikas said that he didn't expect to have a conversation with the former president about health care.
"I said, 'Universal health care. We have to do it,'" Nikas said. That stopped Clinton in his tracks and he spoke with Nikas for five minutes.
Of all of the issues in the race, universal health care has the potential to change more lives than anything, Nikas said.
The issue is so important to him, Nikas said that he is voting Democrat for the first time since he was in college. He is unaffiliated, but voting for Clinton.
He said that he finds something to admire in each candidate. McCain has the most integrity, Obama is the most convincing speaker, but he thinks that Clinton is the candidate with the command of details and the tenacity to solve the country's problems.
Nikas said that one of his two daughters has a pre-existing condition and he and his wife have high health insurance bills.
He said that he shared his story with Clinton and that he was nervous when Clinton spent so long talking with him, but that he felt good about the conversation.
Jean Sansone, an unaffiliated voter who supports Sen. Clinton, said that she is confident that Clinton can do the job.
With the economy in such bad shape, we need a seasoned president in the White House, Sansone said.
The next president should be a Democrat, she said, and she worries that Obama can't beat Sen. John McCain.
But other voters, such as Andre Hickman, think that Obama is the right candidate for the job.
Today was only the second time that Hickman, 24 and an unaffiliated voter, came out to vote.
"I know I was coming to make a difference today," he said.
He took some time to warm up to Obama, he said.
"When I saw a black man representing my race, I wanted to find out what he was talking about," he said.
The more he heard about Obama, the better he liked him, Hickman said. He likes Obama as a person, and he likes the fact that Obama is looking for long term solutions, not quick fixes.
Hickman, who works as a stacker at Big Lots, said that he is concerned about gas prices, health care and the economy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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