By Nathan Ham
Following five days of in-person early voting and additional absentee ballots being processed, a total of 13,207 voters have already cast their ballots in Watauga County for the 2020 Election coming up in less than two weeks.
Early voting totals sit at 9,672 ballots as of the end of the day Tuesday and the number of absentee mail-in ballots is currently 3,535.
There have been 2,580 votes placed at the early voting location at Appalachian State’s student union. A total of 2,295 votes have been placed at the county administration building. Deep Gap has had a solid turnout of early voting as well with 1,710 votes counted. Blowing Rock has seen 1,176 ballots cast, Western Watauga has had 1,238 votes cast and Foscoe has had 673 early voters.
Unaffiliated voters have cast 4,944 ballots, just ahead of Democratic voters who have cast 4,825 ballots. Republican ballots counted have totaled 3,484, Libertarian ballots have added up to 44 so far while the Green Party has had 21 votes counted and the Constitution Party has had one voter. According to Matt Snyder, these numbers also include votes counted on Wednesday morning as the party affiliations data is from live data at the administration building.
Below are the correct cumulative totals of our early voting sites Through Day 5
County Administration Bldg – 2295
App State – 2580
Blowing Rock – 1176
Deep Gap – 1710
Foscoe – 673
Western Watauga – 1238
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TOTAL IN PERSON EARLY VOTING = 9672
ABSENTEE BY MAIL TOTAL = 3535
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TOTAL NUMBER OF BALLOTS PROCESSED = 13,207
North Carolina recognizes five political parties: Constitution, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, and Republican.
Breakdown of Ballots Cast by Party Affiliation So Far
Constitution – 1
Democratic – 4825
Green – 21
Libertarian – 44
Republican – 3484
Unaffiliated – 4944
As a reminder, early voting in North Carolina will continue through October 31.
Watauga County has six early-voting locations:
Watauga County Administration Building, Commissioners’ Board Room
814 W. King Street, Boone
Appalachian State University, Plemmons Student Union – Blue Ridge Ballroom
263 Locust Street, Boone
Blowing Rock Town Hall
1036 Main Street, Blowing Rock
Deep Gap Fire Department
6583 Old 421 South, Deep Gap
High Country Vacation Homes (Foscoe)
520 Church Road, Boone
Western Watauga Community Center
1081 Old U.S. Highway 421, Sugar Grove
Watauga County early voting hours:
October 15-30: 8 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
October 17 and October 24: 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
October 31: 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.