Tomorrow (Friday, April 11) is the North Carolina deadline for voter registration if you want to vote in the state’s primary election on May 6. But that requirement only applies to voting on the specific May 6 date. There’s another way to participate in what may be this state’s most relevant primary ever — for which registration totals are rapidly climbing.
One-Stop Early Voting allows N.C. residents to vote before May 6, and under a new state law, you may register and vote on the same day during the early voting period. That’s available April 17 to May 3 at the following Buncombe County locations: Asheville Senior Opportunity Center on Grove Street; Biltmore Square Mall; the Buncombe County Election Services Office; Carver Community Center in Black Mountain; Weaverville Town Hall; and the Fairview, Leicester, North Asheville, South Buncombe and West Asheville libraries. Be sure to take some form of ID that gives your Buncombe County residence address (a utility bill or driver’s license, for example).
Meanwhile, The Raleigh News & Observer reports today that North Carolina has netted 110,000 new voters so far this year, with sharp increases among Democrats, blacks and unaffiliated voters — spurred at least in part by the Obama campaign’s intensive registration drive. The Clinton campaign is focusing on getting potential voters out to register and vote during the early voting period, so the number should climb ever higher.
According to the latest registration figures posted by the Buncombe County Election Services, about 2,000 people were added to the registration roles in the first two months of this year. To contact Election Services with any registration or voting questions, call 250-4200. Sample ballots for the Primary are available through their Web site.
— Nelda Holder, associate editor
If you’ve already registered (and voted) in previous elections, do you have to update it or anything or does it automatically carry over?
And I’ve heard that independents are now allowed to vote in the Democratic primary in NC. If you’re already registered as an independent, do you have to do anything special before they’ll let you vote?
If you are already registered to vote, you will not have to do anything to be eligible to vote this year. You should check to make sure your personal information is correct.
http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/votersearch/seimsvot.htm
Unaffiliated voters (not Independent) can choose to vote in either the Democrat or Republican primary.
The above link is broken (and it is broken on the Buncombe Co. website too) try this one:
http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/VoterLookup.aspx
Rush the vote! Republicans, vote for Hillary and keep the democrat contest going all the way to the democrat convention. If you are registered unaffiliated, you can vote in the democrat primary. I’m voting Hillary May 6. Then McCain in November.