One-stop voting

nears 15,000
By Scott Nicholson

Watauga County’s election numbers are still on track for a record turnout, as early one-stop voting begins to wind down.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, a total of 14,515 ballots had been cast in the county, either through the one-stop voting sites or mail-in absentee ballots.

With more than 42,000 active voters on the rolls and more registering daily, voter turnout is already approaching 33 percent with the general election still days away.

With rule changes allowing people to register at the one-stop sites, 205 people have registered and cast their ballots.

The county added three additional one-stop voting sites to accommodate the increased interest in this year’s election, and though the Watauga County Board of Elections does not yet have data on the new registrants, this year’s trends show more and more voters are registering as unaffiliated.

Among those registered and active, 36 percent are Republican, 33 percent are Democrat and 31 percent are unaffiliated. Since the 2004 election, the ranks of the unaffiliated have trimmed 3 percent from Republicans and 1 percent from Democrats.

As of Tuesday, the one-stop poll in the Plemmons Student Union on the Appalachian State University campus has been the most heavily used, with 4,763 ballots cast there.

It’s the first year for the one-stop site there.

Another 2,948 voters had cast early ballots through the elections office in the county courthouse in Boone, and another 2,690 had used the Agriculatural Conference Center in Boone.

Activity has been lower at the other two new one-stop sites. The Boone Town Council chambers site on Blowing Rock Road has been used by 1,696 voters, and the Mountain Ruritan clubhouse in Sugar Grove, which opened Monday, has yielded 169 ballots.

The 2004 presidential election sparked a record voter turnout of 69 percent in Watauga County, with 28 percent voting during the one-stop period.

The total of 10,600 early ballots cast in 2004 has already been topped in this year’s election.

Statewide, Democrats hold a sizable registration advantage. As of Oct. 29, there were 2,843,000 Democrats, 1,992,000 Republicans, 3,000 Libertarians and 1,385 unaffiliated voters.