Many are hitting the polls early in Sampson, with more than 9,000 people already casting ballots as of Tuesday afternoon and that number expected to keep rising as the one-stop period extends through this week.

As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, one-stop voting was up to 9,140, a number that was ticking higher and higher as voters submitted ballots at the Sampson County Board of Elections Office in Clinton and four off-site locations around the county. Along with the 9,140 one-stop ballots, there were 17 military ballots and 212 civilian ballots returned by mail.

Early voting began Oct. 20 and will extend through this Saturday, Nov. 5.

While the bulk of the votes have been cast at the Elections Office, located at 120 County Complex Road, Clinton, off-site locations at Garland, Plain View, Newton Grove and Roseboro have also been busy. The four additional early voting sites opened on Oct. 27, a week after the main office.

By early Tuesday, of the 9,140 votes, 1,022 were cast in Plain View, 975 in Roseboro, 567 in Newton Grove and 389 in Garland. There are four officials at every one-stop site.

“Plain View has been busy, so we’re trying to have five there,” Elections director Ashley Pate Tew said. Ideally, there will be three judges and four clerks at each of the county’s 23 precincts on Nov. 8’s Election Day, she noted. “We want to try to have more at the larger precincts.”

Amid all the paperwork and early voting being accommodated at the voting hub on the County Complex Tuesday, Tew was also scheduled to lead some training for election clerks. There are more than 30 county employees that will be assisting with this year’s election, triple the amount who assisted in March’s primary.

Precincts at Lakewood, Plain View and East Clinton will each have two laptops at their disposal to check people in and handle the Election Day rush as those perennially host the largest turnouts. Tew said the goal was to outfit the three next largest precincts with laptops in the near future in an effort to ultimately have all precincts outfitted with additional equipment.

Tew credited elections staff and others with handling the early voting crowds well, saying voter check-in was taking between 30 seconds to a minute barring any changes of address or precinct transfers. Longer wait times come into play when voters fill out their ballots at one of 10 booths at each voting location, which can take 5 minutes or more.

“This is a long ballot,” Tew conceded.

During the first days of early voting, a state elections official was tracking wait times at the Sampson Board of Elections. The line extended out the door and to a mailbox outside during peak traffic. That line kept some away, but the line was a little misleading as the wait was only about 12-14 minutes, Tew said.

“It does look long, but we’re limited with the space we have (inside),” she remarked. “So the line goes straight outside.”

Tew said the mass of early voters has been a steady flow, with large crowds showing up toward the end of the week, notably Friday and Saturday. During a limited window on the only Sunday voting day this past weekend, more than 200 people came out to the Board of Elections.

“It’s my first Presidential (Election as director), so I don’t have a lot to compare it to,” she said of the early voting turnout. However, she did assist at the Roseboro location during the 2008 election, which saw huge crowds. “I was honestly thinking we’d get 10,000 (early votes), tops. I’m thinking we might hit 12,000. Friday and Saturday are usually busier.”

“As busy as we have been the whole time, it wouldn’t surprise me if it just feels like a typical day,” Tew said of those last-minute crowds. “I don’t know if there’s been a time since we started early voting that they haven’t had five people in there voting.”

And, in years past, the largest crowds have been seen on the final Saturday of the early voting period.

“In March, we had people to the mailbox the whole day that final Saturday,” Tew said, referring to the primary.

The last Presidential Election in November 2012 saw a total of 13,653 early voters, which included 7,593 Democrats, 4,568 Republicans, 1,472 unaffiliated and 20 Libertarians. There were no breakdowns available for 2016 voting, however Tew said she would be compiling a report toward the end of this week.

Election records show that there is historically a 2-to-1 ratio of Democrats to Republicans during early voting in general elections and, as of the last Presidential Election in 2012, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans in Sampson by about 5,000, or roughly 35 percent (18,346 to 13,438). However, the numbers also reveal that, when taking into account Election Day voting and absentee votes, there is often a late swell of Republican votes.

Precinct location moved

The Kitty Fork precinct will be housed at Farm Bureau Insurance, located at 1203 N. U.S. 421 Hwy., Clinton, across the roadway from the Star Communications Distribution Center, where it was originally slated to be.

However, due to Hurricane Matthew, which flooded out the main Star Communications offices further up U.S. 421, employees had to be moved to the warehouse and other locations. That means the Kitty Fork precinct will have to move again, the second time this year. Star officials stepped up in March after a mold infestation at the N.C. National Guard Armory meant voters had to cast ballots at the Mobile Command Unit in the armory parking lot.

“We’re so thankful that Farm Bureau will let us use their location. We hate that it’s such short notice,” said Tew, who noted that signs will be posted at the armory and at the Star warehouse to point voters toward Farm Bureau. “(Star) was gracious to let us use that building.”

In an effort not to disrupt displaced Star employees and provide the needed parking and traffic flow for voters, the change was made.

“We wanted to make sure (voters) could access the voting site safely,” Tew said.

Those not registered to vote can do so during the one-stop voting period through same-day registration, which requires voting at that same time.

“You do have to show proof of your current address,” Tew has noted. “That can be a valid photo ID, although you don’t have to show photo ID to vote.”

If a driver’s license has a current address, it may be used. Other options include a utility bill or a government-issued document that shows proof of residency within the last 30 days.

The Sampson County Board of Elections will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. this week through Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5. Off-site locations will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. this week through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.

Off-site locations are: Garland Town Hall, 190 S. Church St., Garland; Newton Grove Fire Station, 313 W. Weeksdale St., Newton Grove; Plain View Fire Station, 5041 Plain View Hwy., Dunn; and the Roseboro Municipal Building, 101 W. Pleasant St., Roseboro.

For more information about voter registration online, visit www.sampsonnc.com/departments/boe.

Well over 9,000 people in Sampson had already cast ballots by midday Tuesday, with still four and a half days of one-stop voting left to go for the 2016 election.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_early-voting.jpgWell over 9,000 people in Sampson had already cast ballots by midday Tuesday, with still four and a half days of one-stop voting left to go for the 2016 election.
Elections director: One-stop in Sampson could reach 12,000

By Chris Berendt

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Reach Managing Editor Chris Berendt at 910-249-4616. Follow the paper on twitter @SampsonInd and like us on Facebook.