Early voters rush in, Democrats outnumber Republicans | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Beaufort County voters showed up in record numbers yesterday for the first day of early voting. Beaufort County Board of Elections reported that 352 ballots were cast from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. that day. Furthermore, the numbers show that Democrats were better able to mobilize their base than Republicans. Of the 352 ballots, 162 were cast by Democrats, 110 by Republicans and 70 by unaffiliated voters.

Beaufort County Board of Elections temporary worker Ella Dougherty signs in voter Bill Plaster, a conservative from Washington, yesterday on the first day of early voting.

    Beaufort County Board of Elections Assistant Director Anita Bullock Branch said that she and Board of Elections Director Kellie Harris Hopkins were not expecting such high turnout. There was a line waiting before the polls opened at 6:45 a.m., and by 10 a.m. there was a crowd of about 30 people crammed in a corner of the office to escape a downpour of rain while they waited to vote. Only 85 people voted on day one of One-Stop Absentee Voting in this year's primary.

    "Usually hitting 100 is a big thing, in one day," said Branch. "And it's so crazy because the registrations were so low--but maybe everybody had all their stuff ready."

    Voter registration was much more active before the 2008 presidential election. At the close of books in Oct. 2008, 32,011 people were registered to vote in Beaufort County; whereas, at the end of Sept. 2010 (the most recent available data), the books show only 31,734 registered. Yesterday, only 12 of the 352 voters took advantage of One-Stop Absentee Voting, registering to vote directly before filling out a ballot.

    It's difficult to predict overall voter turnout by early voting numbers, said Branch. Each election cycle, since 2000, has seen an erratic increase in early voters, as the general populace gets used to having the option. Before 2000, if a person wanted to take advantage of early voting, he or she had to sign an affidavit, witnessed by two people, that the Nov. 2 voting day intersected with their religious holiday, vacation, sickness, incarceration due to a misdemeanor, or electoral duties. Back then, high early voting numbers directly translated into proportional high voter turnout, said Branch.

    "I would say it correlated perfectly," she said. "In recent years, the trend started to change into more people voting early."

    Typically, a midterm election inspires roughly 40 to 50 percent of voters to go to the polls, as opposed to around 70 percent in a general election. Yesterday's atypical crowd does not guarantee that the 2010 midterm election will produce unusually high turnout, said Branch.

    "We'll see how tomorrow goes, but if it is really busy, like today, it will be a good indication, from experience, that the rest of the One Stop will be busy, also," said Branch. "If tomorrow's dead, it will probably just even out and be an average--not that it will be a low turnout."

    So far, the trend seems to be continuing. As of noon today, 152 more people had cast their ballots.

    For One Stop Voting Sites and times click here.