Primary Election Day is this Tuesday

Victoria Mcguinn Young, News-Topic, Lenoir, N.C.
·3 min read

Mar. 1—CALDWELL COUNTY — The official primary voting day will be here in just a few short days, and while many voters have taken advantage of early voting, in-person early voting results will be released later than in years past.

This may cause Primary Election Day results to be reported later as well, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Previously, county boards of elections could count early voting results before the close of polls, then report those results almost immediately at 7:30 p.m. on election night. Under changes made in Session Law 2023-140, Section 29, county boards must wait until 7:30 p.m. to "close the polls" on early voting and then begin the process of counting and reporting results of ballots cast during the early voting period, according to NCSBE.

The process to count these early votes is estimated to take 30 to 60 minutes.

Because the March 5 primary will be the first election held under the new law, election officials do not know exactly how long it will delay the reporting of results.

"Those who watch election results in North Carolina have come to expect a large chunk of results very soon after polls close," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. "That will not happen this year, although the state board and county boards of elections remain committed to providing unofficial results as quickly as possible. We ask for patience from voters and candidates as election officials comply with changes to election laws that affect election night processes."

As for the total ballots cast during Early Voting as of Friday morning, there were 4,527. The ballots were split 3,825 on Republican ballots and 685 on Democrat ballots.

The popularity of both the Lenoir and Granite Falls Early Voting polling places still held equal strength. As of Friday morning, 1,934 have used the GraniteFalls location and 2,588 have used the Lenoir location. This majority may be due all of the local primaries, for county board of commissioners and board of education, only having Republican primaries. There is a Democrat primary ballot, but it contains the primaries for the presidential party nominee and Democrat candidates for several state positions.

Early voting is continuing through Saturday, March 2, until 3 p.m. at each Early Voting location. On the official Primary Election Day, March, 5, voters will need to vote at their designated precincts.

Voters are remembering to bring their ID's, Barnes said. A photo ID is required in order to vote. While a North Carolina driver's license is used by most voter's, there is a list of permissible IDs on Caldwell County Board of Elections' website.

Voters can cast their early ballots Saturday at the Caldwell County Resource Center and the Granite Falls Shuford Recreation Center. The Caldwell County Resource Center is located at 120 Hospital Ave, Lenoir, NC 28645. The Granite Falls Shuford Recreation Center is located at 56 Pinewood Rd, Granite Falls, NC 28630.

For voters opting to head out to the polls on Primary Election Day, March 5, voters; designated polling places can be found on the Caldwell County Board of Elections website at https://www.caldwellcountync.org/338/Board-of-Elections or voters can call the county's board of elections at 828-757-1342.