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Early Voting, Big Turnout: Ten more sites open, and they're all busy
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Early voters wait in line at the Forsyth County Library's Southside Branch.
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Published: October 28, 2008
Forsyth County opened 10 more early-voting sites yesterday morning, and the crowds soon followed.
"They have all been pretty busy," Rob Coffman, the director of elections in Forsyth County, said of the 14 sites.
People appeared to be waiting about an hour at most places, although some were busier than others, he said.
"I can't think of any site where you are going to just walk in and walk out," Coffman said.
As of 5:30 p.m., the county had recorded almost 31,000 early ballots being cast since early voting started Oct. 16. That means that about 14 percent of the county's total number of registered voters has voted in advance of next Tuesday's election.
Early voters in Forsyth County were heavily Democratic compared to the county's registration as a whole. Democrats make up 46 percent of the county's registered voters, but the percentage of Democrats voting early was close to 65 percent. Black voters accounted for about 45 percent of early voters so far, although they make up only 27 percent of the county's registration.
The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been encouraging early voting, said Susan Lagana, speaking for the Obama campaign in North Carolina.
"I don't think there is any question that enthusiasm for Obama has translated into strong numbers for the early vote," Lagana said.
The chairman of the local Republican Party, Bill Miller, predicts that the numbers will even out now that more sites for early voting are open.
"I think you will start to see the number of Republicans starting to pick up," he said, noting that the GOP vote is higher "in the outskirts."
Regardless of affiliation, Coffman said that he is reminding all early voters that a straight-party vote does not cast a vote in the presidential contest, nonpartisan races and a local bond referendum.
The county has decided not to follow a directive that a state elections official sent to local elections boards last week, that each voter be handed a flier explaining the single-ballot procedure, Coffman said. Coffman said he polled the three elections-board members and found that two of the three were opposed to passing out the flier.
Eric Elliott, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Elections, said it would have been unfair for the county to distribute the fliers after voting began because people who turned out early in the process wouldn't have gotten the printed information.
"Whenever you start an election and people have started voting, you have to be careful and not create two classes of voters," Elliott said.
"Once we administer the election, the rules have to be the same for everybody," Elliott said, noting that the separate presidential-voting policy has been in place for about 40 years.
The separation of the presidential vote from other partisan races dates to 1967, during an era when Democrats dominated state races but the state was beginning to vote for Republicans at the national level. Democrats were fearful of the effect of presidential voting on down-ticket races.
The state's straight-ticket rules are confusing and could especially affect voters who are new, poor or elderly, said Larry Norden, who studies balloting issues for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Norden said that the state's ballot is so flawed that it could affect the outcome of the vote if the election is close.
■ Wesley Young can be reached at 727-7369 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com.
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