The North Carolina Board of Elections is finalizing early voting locations soon for the midterm elections.
Each county determines the number of early voting sites and where they will be located. The State Board of Elections is meeting on September 13th to adopt early voting sites and schedules for the county boards of elections that weren’t able to come to a unanimous agreement on early voting sites.
“People need to pay attention to where those are, have they changed and critically what communities are being served and what communities aren’t being served by those locations,” explained politics expert Chris Cooper, director of the Public Policy Institute at Western Carolina University.
These locations have an impact on whether community members vote early. The full list will be finalized before the end of September.
“We’ve done some research that shows if voters have their early voting location moved it can effect if they actually cast a vote to the tune of a couple of percentage points change,” said Cooper.
Find out where your polling place is located here.
One-stop early voting runs from Thursday, October 20th, through Saturday, November 5th at 3pm. During early voting, people can register to vote and cast ballots at any polling place in their county of residence. Here’s more information on early voting.
On Election Day November 8th, you must vote at your precinct. Find out the location here. Polling places will be open from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm. Any voter in line at their assigned polling place at 7:30 pm will be able to vote. If you plan to vote on Election Day then you must be registered to vote by October 14th at 5pm. Here’s where you can register to vote.
If you don’t plan to vote in-person, you can apply for an absentee ballot for any reason before November 1st and those must be mailed by Election Day. Here’s more information about voting by mail.
Do you have more questions? Blue Ridge Public Radio is part of a new community-powered journalism project with America Amplified to answer all your questions about how to exercise your right to vote in the upcoming midterms.
Send in your questions in the form below or text [BPR] to 855-670-1777.
