The North Carolina congressional party primaries are in judicial limbo, waiting on a decision by three U.S. District Court judges about the new map drawn by the General Assembly this spring after the judges declared 1st and 12th congressional districts to be unconstitutional gerrymanders.
The March 15 party primaries for candidates from the presidential down to the local will be the first time picture ID is required for people to vote, though there are provisions for people to be able to vote without the ID. See below for a description of voting without the photo ID.
But despite the early date and the other possibilities for confusion, people turned out in large numbers Sunday in Wake Forest to vote at the Northern Regional Center on East Holding Avenue, and Ross Yeager, the director at the regional center, said, ”It’s actually been quite steady. We’ve not had the bottlenecks as in prior years, but turnout has been good. I don’t yet have verified numbers, but we are right at 500 voters a day bringing the six day total to about 3,000.”
Early voting at the Northern Regional Center – and other locations across the county – will continue through Saturday. The hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Next Tuesday, March 15, voters will go to their local precincts, but there is a change for one precinct in Wake Forest. Voters who ordinarily vote at the Wake Forest Community House on West Owen Avenue will instead vote at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre at 405 Brooks Street because of renovations underway at the Community House. Polls on Tuesday will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
If you do not have and are unable to obtain a photo ID, you can still vote with a provisional ballot by declaring you have a reasonable impediment, which can include lack of proper documents, family obligations, lack of transportation, work schedules, illness or disability or other reasons. You will be asked to sign a declaration describing the impediment and give your date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security number, or present your current voter registration card, or present a copy of any document showing your name and address such as a current utility bill, a bank statement, government check or paycheck. If you are over 70 years of age, you can provide any acceptable photo ID that has expired provided that it expired after your 70th birthday. Go to www.voterid.nc.gov for more information about the exceptions which can allow you to vote.
For information about which precinct you should vote in and directions to the site as well as other voting information, visit the Wake County Board of Elections website.
One Response
“When you have the top one percent getting money, they spend five-ten percent of what they earn. When you have the lower end of the economy getting money, they spend a hundred, or a hundred and ten percent of what they earn. As you’ve had a transfer of wealth to the top, and a transfer of income to the top, you have a shrinking consumer base, basically, and you have a shrinking velocity of money. Bernie is the only person out there who I think is talking at all about both fiscal stimulation and banking rules that will get the banks to begin to generate lending again as opposed to speculation.” Asher Edelman (inspiration for Gordon Gecko in Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street”)
Something to think about when casting your ballot in the primary when a lot of our economic growth is heavily dependent on consumer spending.