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Record Vote Early in Watauga County, State Sees Highest Early Voter Turnout, Too

By Jesse Wood

As of the end of early voting, which closed on Saturday afternoon, nearly 20,000 people voted early in Watauga County.

Nearly half of the one-stop ballots were cast at the Watauga County Administration Building, which was the only early-voting site open the entire early-voting period. The other five sites opened a week later and wasn’t open on the last day of early voting this past weekend. See a breakdown of ballots cast per site.

  • Watauga County Admin Building = 9291 TOTAL
  • Plemmons Student Union/ASU = 6483
  • Blowing Rock = 1101
  • Western Watauga = 1079
  • Meat Camp = 757
  • Deep Gap = 982

The nearly 20,000 people casting early ballots appear to be a record. Off hand, Watauga County Board of Elections Director Matt Snyder said he’s “pretty confident” that the 2016 early voting totals are a record in Watauga County.

In 2012, more than 15,000 people voted early in the county and in 2008, nearly 18,000 people went to the polls early.

State Board of Elections released this statement regarding the “highest early voting turnout in the state’s history:”

Through early Saturday afternoon, more than 3 million North Carolina voters had cast ballots in the 2016 General Election, either through in-person early voting or by mailing in absentee ballots. That’s 44 percent of the state’s registered voters.

Through 2 p.m. Saturday, 2.9 million voters had cast ballots during the 17-day in-person early voting period, a 13.4 percent increase over the entire 2012 early voting period. All voters in line at one-stop early voting sites when the polls close today will be able to cast ballots. Several counties have hours that extend past 1 p.m.

“We are proud of the highest early voting turnout in the state’s history,” said Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Statewide, North Carolina had more early voting hours and more sites than ever before.” See news release.

The vast majority of North Carolina’s counties adopted early voting plans with bipartisan support. Immediately after the early voting period, county boards of elections must prepare poll books and other materials for Election Day.

Where’s Your Polling Place?

Tomorrow, the polls will open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.

Not sure where your polling place is located? Look it up at the State Board of Elections website. Simply enter your residential address into the search engine. Click here to find out where you should vote: http://vt.ncsbe.gov/pollingplace_search/

Early Voters in Watauga by Affiliation

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Early Votes in NC by Affiliation 

state-partyBy Jesse Wood