Wake Forest and Rolesville residents will be able to vote early on two Sundays, three Saturdays and all weekdays at convenient locations for the two weeks of early voting in October.
Voters can go to the Wake County Northern Regional Center on East Holding Avenue in Wake Forest for the first and second weeks of voting – Thursday, Oct. 20 through Saturday, Nov. 5. During the second week – Thursday, Oct. 27 through Saturday, Nov. 5 – voters can also go to New Bethel Baptist Church on East Young Street in Rolesville. There are also early voting sites in Wendell and Zebulon.
It did not begin that way. In September, after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit found in late July that North Carolina’s 2013 voting law intentionally restricted the voting rights of African American voters, the three-man Wake County Board of Elections voted two to one to severely reduce the number of early-voting sites and hours from what they had been in the 2012 election.
For the first week of early voting, the only voting site was the Wake County Board of Elections in downtown Raleigh. In the second week, Oct. 27 through Nov. 5, 11 sites were added. One of those was New Bethel Baptist Church in Rolesville. There were no sites in Wake Forest, Apex, Garner, Zebulon, Cary or Holly Springs.
The two members voting for the reductions were both Republicans, Chairman W. Ellis Boyle and Secretary Eddie Woodhouse; voting against was Democrat Mark Ezzell.
Because of the split vote, that decision had to be reviewed by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, a five-man board split between three Republicans and two Democrats because the governor is a Republican.
On Nov. 8 that state board approved the alternate plan offered by Ezzell which adds eight sites with voting each day beginning on Thursday, Oct. 20, and ending Saturday, Nov. 5. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The result is that northern Wake County voters will be able to begin voting on Oct. 20 at the Northern Regional Center on East Holding Avenue and at the Eastern Regional Center on Dogwood Drive in Zebulon. The hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. On Saturdays the hours are 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday hours are 1 to 5 p.m. There are two Sundays on this schedule, Oct. 23 and 30, and three Saturdays, Oct. 23, Oct. 30 and Nov. 5.
On Thursday, Oct. 27, New Bethel Baptist Church on Young Street in Rolesville and the Wendell Community Center on West Third Street will join the lineup with the same hours.
The court of appeals also reversed North Carolina’s law requiring a photo ID to vote. You will not have to show any identification; give your name to the election officials and sign your name on the affidavit.
There will be curbside voting at all early voting sites.
Voters can also choose to use absentee ballots without giving a reason for the use of that ballot. Go to www.ncsbe.gov for details and the absentee ballot form. You must fill out the form and mail it, fax it or email it to the Wake County Board of Elections, which will send you the appropriate ballot for your precinct. The board of elections is at PO Box 695, Raleigh, NC27602 and 337 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601, 919-856-6240.
You can find a voter registration form at the North Carolina State Board of Elections (www.ncsbe.gov) or at the Raleigh office (www.wakegov.com/elections) and the last date to register is Friday, Oct. 14. Lackadaisical would-be voters can also register at the early polling stations.
Poll workers for all the early-voting locations are needed throughout the county from Oct. 20 through Nov. 5. If you are interested, call 919-676-4288 or email Armando Diaz.
There is only one debate now scheduled for the two top state races, those for governor and U.S. senator. Governor Pat McCrory and Attorney-General Roy Cooper will face each other on Oct. 11, a debate moderated by NBC’s Chuck Todd. In the Senate race, Republican Senator Richard Burr and Democrat Deborah Ross are still negotiating about a debate.
