News
Email
Print
Voting early isn't fast on the first day
Early afternoon busiest time; some people say they had to wait about an hour to vote
Journal Photo by David Rolfe
Betty and Ken Lloyd of Kernersville are two of the 60 or so voters who arrived before 8 a.m. to vote.
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Links
» Get up-to-the-minute election results
» PHOTOS: Election Night 2008 in North Carolina
Published: October 17, 2008
Voters waited up to an hour yesterday to cast their ballots as the first day of early voting began at the Forsyth County Government Center in downtown Winston-Salem.
At times, the line stretched around the second-floor balcony and continued at the foot of the escalator down a hallway to the parking garage, said Rob Coffman, the county's director of elections.
"If we can get 30 percent early voters or absentees, I think it will make Election Day go better for everybody," Coffman said. Twenty-one percent of the people who voted in the May primary voted early.
A line of about 60 people greeted election officials yesterday when early voting began at 8 a.m. The busiest time was in the early afternoon, when some people waited about an hour. At other times, the wait was 30 minutes.
Early voting will continue today at the elections office, and then expand to locations next week at the Kernersville, Clemmons and Carver School Road branch libraries.
Donald Evans was the first in line yesterday, arriving about 6. He said he wanted to make sure he was in line early because he had to go to work later in the morning as a bus driver. He recommended that others vote early as well.
"To vote early, once you get it over, you feel happy about it," Evans said.
By the end of the day, 1,733 people had voted.
Tyrone Wagner, waiting in line in late afternoon, was finding out that early voting didn't mean quick voting.
"I thought it would be more convenient," Wagner said. "Today was a good day to get a baby sitter. I thought it would be quicker than this. I saw a friend coming in and it took him 40 minutes."
He said that when he voted in the May primary, the line was "five times shorter."
Coneita Hicks, another voter waiting in line, was looking on the bright side of waiting in line.
"It is warm (outside) and it is a little cool in here, and I wanted to make sure I voted," Hicks said. "I kind of expected it, but I was hoping for better. In the primary, I just walked right in."
Voters use touch-screen computers to cast their ballots during the early-voting process.
Coffman said that voters should be aware that if they cast only a straight-party vote they still haven't voted for president or for any of the nonpartisan contests on the ballot, including a local bond referendum.
"The president is actually the first office you see on the ballot," Coffman said. "The next is the straight-party voting."
Linda Poller, one of the earliest voters, said she was stunned when she realized after voting that she hadn't voted in the presidential race. She had meant to vote for Barack Obama and didn't realize -- until it was too late -- that she had skipped that part of the ballot.
"I voted in 2004, and I remember now in the back of my mind someone saying you have to vote for president separately," she said. "No one said that this morning."
Both the computer screens and the paper ballots that will be used on Election Day specify in two places that a straight-party vote doesn't include the presidential race. After Poller's voting mishap, Coffman said he told elections workers to help get the word out about how straight-party voting works.
In addition to the presidential race, a straight-party vote doesn't count for nonpartisan judicial races, the contest for soil and water conservation district supervisor, and a $62 million bond request by Forsyth Technical Community College.
Another twist: Voters can vote straight-party, and then vote for one or more candidates of another party by picking them individually. But Coffman said that straight-party voters have to be careful if they try that in the county commissioners' race, which has multiple candidates running from each party. In that case, Coffman said, a vote for one candidate outside the voter's straight-party choice will cancel out straight-party voting for all candidates in that race. Voters would have to manually select each county-commissioner candidate they want to vote for.
Coffman said that people don't have to worry that the polling station might close before they get a chance to vote.
"Anybody in line will be allowed to vote," he said.
■ Wesley Young can be reached at 727-7369 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com.
■ Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at
pgarber@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
See community events or add your own! Click here!
Advertisement
