• Home
• Voting & Democracy
  • Go Vote
  • N.C. Voter Guide
  • VoterRadio.com
  • Better Courts Project
  • N.C. Judges
  • Voter-Owned Elections
• Research & Publications
  • Follow the Money
  • The Reform Letter
  • NCCVE Research
• Multimedia
  • Podcast
  • Vidcast
• For the Media
  • News Releases
  • Media Advisories
  • Contact NCCVE
• About Us
  • Board of Directors
  • Staff
  • Contribute to NCCVE
  • Contact Us
• Search

Apr. 21, 2008

Early Voting Avoids Election-Day Crunch

By Damon Circosta

RALEIGH - In the not-too-distant past, Friday afternoon at the local bank was quite a spectacle. A mad rush of customers all trying to get their checks cashed before the weekend made for quite a scene. There were long lines, short tempers and many people not able to cash their paycheck because they were late to the bank.

Elections in North Carolina used to resemble Fridays at the bank. Just about the time campaigns were heating up and voters were paying attention, the deadline to register would expire. If you weren’t properly registered, it was like you were standing outside the bank at 5:01 p.m., uncashed check in hand.

The banking industry solved their Friday crunch with the advent of the ATM. The ATM streamlined transactions and gave customers another option.  North Carolina is solving their voter registration crunch with one-stop early voting. Much like an ATM, one-stop early voting streamlines the election process and provides another option for citizens.

One-stop voting permits citizens to utilize the state's no-excuse early voting sites to both register and vote on the same day. While the normal deadline to register for the May 6 primary has come and gone, voters can still participate if they use the early voting sites from April 17 to May 3.

“With all of the excitement around this primary election and so many people getting involved in the process, it makes perfect sense to have a way to register to vote now,” says Courtney Crowder, a board member with the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Voter Education. “This makes participating in our elections that much easier.”

Civic participation activists agree that having a mechanism to get previously unregistered citizens involved makes their work easier. “In the last days before an election, there is a push from political campaigns and civic engagement groups alike to get people to vote,” explains Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. “Using one-stop early voting, we don’t just have to target the folks who are already registered. We can target college students, people who recently moved and any other citizen who wants to engage in democracy.”

Campaigns are excited about the prospect of registering voters through the early-voting process and are actively pushing citizens to participate in this new program. Both on television and in written appeals to voters, casting a ballot early is being touted as a convenient voting option.

The ability to register and vote on the same day does require some additional safeguards. First, this program is not available on the May 6 Election Day. If you aren’t already registered to vote, the only way to participate in this year’s primary is to utilize the early voting option. Also, early voting requires that you show some form of identification. Recognizing that not everyone has a driver’s license, permissible forms of identification include a pay stub, utility bill or government document with your name and resident address on it.

There is at least one early voting site in every county in North Carolina. Many counties offer multiple locations. The State Board of Elections has a list of early voting places on its Web site at http://sboe.state.nc.us, or you can contact the N.C. Center for Voter Education toll-free at 1-877-25-VOTER for help in finding an early voting site in your county.

Before you head to the polls, you can learn about North Carolina’s statewide candidates by visiting www.ncvoterguide.org, an online voter resource created in a partnership between UNC-TV and the N.C. Center for Voter Education.

It is an historic year in North Carolina politics. There hasn’t been this much attention paid to a Tar Heel primary election in quite some time. As the campaigns heat up and more voters tune in over the remaining weeks, it is good to know that they will have the chance to make an investment in democracy.

Damon Circosta is the director of policy with the N.C. Center for Voter Education, a Raleigh-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving elections in North Carolina.