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Published: October 6, 2008
One in five primary voters in Forsyth County took advantage of early voting this spring, and with a highly contested presidential election less than a month away, election officials are hoping that number will be even higher this fall.
More people voting early will mean shorter lines on Election Day, said Rob Coffman, Forsyth's elections director. That's particularly important this year as turnout is expected to be heavy.
"We had 67 percent turnout in the '04 presidential election," he said. "I know we're going to far exceed that. I would think in this election we're going to see 75, maybe 80 percent."
Coffman based his projection of an increased turnout on several factors, including both the lack of an incumbent and the historic nature of the race, which will result in the election of either the first black president or female vice president.
And although North Carolina has not voted for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter in 1976, Coffman said, there's a feeling this year that the race could be competitive here.
"Both parties consider North Carolina a state they can win," Coffman said. "The Republicans see that history, but Democrats see the urban centers and universities."
Early voting has been gaining in popularity since it was introduced here in 1998. That year, only a little more than 1 percent of all county voters took part.
In the 2004 presidential primary, early voting counted for about 4 percent of the votes, or about 1,300 of the total 39,000 votes. More than 17,000 Forsyth voters took part in early voting for this year's primary, accounting for more than one in five of the 81,000 votes cast.
When early voting started, there was only one location, at the county's Board of Elections office. This year, there will be 14 locations. In addition to the Board of Elections office on Chestnut Street, eight satellite sites will be open in Winston-Salem, and one each in Clemmons, Lewisville, Rural Hall, Walkertown and Kernersville.
Eric Elliott, a Democrat and chairman of the Board of Elections, said that is a good number for the county.
"It shouldn't be that far of a drive for anybody to get to these satellites," he said, although he would like to have had another location near Union Cross.
His Republican counterpart on the board, Jerry Jordan, disagreed, saying that there are too many sites.
Jordan said that two of the locations, one at Winston-Salem State University and one at the Malloy Jordan Heritage Center on Seventh Street, were too close to the downtown location of the Board of Elections.
"I think it's a tremendous waste of resources to have them so close to the Board of Elections site," Jordan said. "I'm not a big fan of having a whole lot of sites in the first place. Those in particular … are not needed."
The board will hire about 70 poll workers at $10.50 an hour to work the early-voting sites, Coffman said.
The three-member board must unanimously agree on the locations for early-voting sites to be approved by the state Board of Elections. Because Jordan voted against it, the state board had to take up the issue earlier this year.
The state board considered both the map with 14 locations and a proposal by Jordan with only 12. The state board ultimately chose the map with 14 locations.
Although he was disappointed by the number of sites used, Jordan said he has used early voting in the past and intends to use it again for this election.
"It's nice and convenient," said Jordan, who works downtown and votes at the Board of Election office. "It's an easy process."
The fact that early-voting sites need to be available a week or more makes it harder to find locations than it is for Election Day precincts, Coffman said. For example, it's unrealistic to ask schools to be open that long.
Coffman said that the board has relied on a network of libraries and recreation centers to help. Seven of the satellite sites are in libraries -- the branches at Carver School Road, Clemmons, Kernersville, Lewisville, Walkertown, Rural Hall and Southside. Three others are at recreation centers -- Brown & Douglas, Polo Park and Sedge Garden.
There is also a satellite location at Harper Hill Shopping Center off of Country Club Road.
Early voting runs from Oct. 16 through Nov. 1, although the dates and hours are different for different locations. Election Day is Nov. 4.
■ Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at pgarber@wsjournal.com.
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