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Over 15,000 Watauga County Residents Took Advantage of Early Voting for the 2018 Midterm Election

By Nathan Ham

Early voting officially wrapped up on Saturday afternoon and 15,238 voters in Watauga County went ahead and made their votes official prior to Election Day this Tuesday.

A total of 767 voters made it to the polls on Saturday.

Overall, 5,744 people voted at the early voting site on Appalachian State’s campus, 4,821 voters voted at the Watauga County Administration Building, 1,375 people voted in Blowing Rock, 1,293 voted at the Western Watauga Community Center in Sugar Grove, 1,161 votes were counted in Deep Gap and 844 votes were counted in Meat Camp.

Unaffiliated voters had the highest turnout for early voting with 5,700 votes counted. Democrats were second with 5,295 votes and Republicans had the third highest total with 4,104 votes. The Libertarian Party had 83 early votes, the Green Party had five early votes and the Constitution Party had two early votes.

Of the 47,231 registered voters in Watauga County, 32 percent of those voted early.

According to date provided by ncvotetracker.com, a project of the Civitas Institute, a total of 8,613 women have voted early and through mailed in absentee ballots to 6,923 men and 230 votes from undesignated genders. 

Looking at the age demographic, the youngest voters have headed to the polls in a big way. Voters ages 18-22 have accounted for 3,543 of the 15,766 early and absentee votes in Watauga County, almost a quarter of the early vote total. 

In Ashe County, a total of 5,827 early votes and absentee votes have been tallied with Republican votes leading the way with 2,428 votes. Democratic votes counted are1,798 and unaffiliated voting totals are at 1,586. In Avery County, 2,010 early votes were counted with over half being by Republican voters (1,110). Unaffiliated vote totals were at 595 and Democratic vote totals were at 302. 

For everyone else that will make their vote count on Election Day, polls in North Carolina open on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. and will remain open until 7:30 p.m.

Unlike early voting, those that have chosen to vote on Election Day will need to go to the precinct that they are registered at to vote. Watauga County has 20 different precincts. Below are the precincts and their voting locations.

Bald Mountain – Todd Fire Department (11062 N.C. Highway 194 N., Todd)

Beaver Dam – Beaver Dam Fire Department (1928 Bethel Road, Sugar Grove)

Beech Mountain – Buckeye Recreation Center (1330 Pine Ridge Road, Banner Elk)

Blowing Rock – Blowing Rock Town Hall (1036 Main Street, Blowing Rock)

Blue Ridge – Laurel Fork Baptist Church (229 Jake Storie Road, Boone)

Boone 1 – Watauga County Administration Building (814 W. King Street, Boone)

Boone 2 – Legends (190 Hardin Street, Boone)

Boone 3 – Agricultural Conference Center (252 Poplar Grove Road, Boone)

Brushy Fork – Oak Grove Baptist Church (306 Oak Grove Road, Boone)

Cove Creek – Western Watauga Community Center (1081 Old U.S. Highway 421, Sugar Grove)

Elk – Stewart Simmons Fire Department (191 Jakes Mtn Road, Deep Gap)

Laurel Creek – Cove Creek Fire Department (193 Smith Street, Vilas)

Meat Camp – Meat Camp Fire Department (4797 N.C. Highway 194 N., Boone)

New River 1 – Boone Town Hall (1500 Blowing Rock Road, Boone)

New River 2 – Three Forks Baptist Association (513 Jefferson Road, Boone)

New River 3 – Mt. Vernon Baptist Church (3505 Bamboo Road, Boone)

North Fork – Edgar Ellers Garage (271 South Road, Todd)

Shawneehaw – Matney Community Center (7156 N.C. Highway 194 S., Banner Elk)

Stony Fork – Deep Gap Fire Department (6583 Old U.S. Highway 421 S., Deep Gap)

Watauga – Foscoe Fire Department (9230 N.C. Highway 105 S., Banner Elk)

If you are unsure of your voting location, you can find that by clicking here and entering your address.