Lines grow across North Carolina to cast early ballots

By Ann Doss Helms and Binyamin Appelbaum

Knight Ridder   27 October 2004

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Lines kept growing Monday as North Carolina broke records for early voting.

More than 350,000 people, or 6.4 percent of the state's registered voters, had cast early ballots as of Monday, with four more days of early one-stop voting left.

On Monday, the wait averaged an hour in Mecklenburg and topped two hours in Gaston County.

Early voters in Union and Cabarrus counties were waiting 30 to 40 minutes Monday, officials there said.

"It appears there will be in excess of half a million people voting" when early balloting ends Saturday, said Don Wright, general counsel for the N.C. Board of Elections.

That compares with 350,000 early voters in the 2000 presidential election.

Sunday voting, offered in Mecklenburg, Wake and Durham counties, helped swell the total, drawing "great response" in all three, Wright said.

South Carolina is one of 16 states without "no excuses" early voting.

S.C. residents can vote absentee for a number of reasons, including military service, disability, and vacations or jobs that will keep them from the polls on Election Day.

N.C. voters need no special reason to take the early option.

N.C. election officials hope the surge will ease the pressure Nov. 2.

"It means there's half a million fewer people that will be waiting in lines," Wright said.

Strong interest in close races points to a heavy Nov. 2 turnout as well, election officials say.

Couple that with a long ballot and record numbers of new voters, and a hassle-free Election Day is far from guaranteed.

"Whenever a lot of people want the same thing at the same time, you're going to have to end up waiting for it," said Gaston County Elections Director Sandra Page. "You don't hear anybody fussing about standing on line at Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving."

People waited two hours and more to vote Monday afternoon at Gastonia's Adult Recreation Center.

Coyte Lingerfelt, who arrived at 2 p.m., reached the front of the line about 3:45.

In between, he had to reschedule a 3 p.m. doctor's appointment.

Many left without voting.

"This is ridiculous," said Mary Bobo, 52, of Gastonia, who walked in and out without voting. Spotting Page, she walked over calling, "Sandra! You need more places!"

Page said she also needs more people and more money. She offered directions to the county's other early-voting site, where the line wasn't much shorter, and encouraged people to apply for mail-in ballots.

Mecklenburg has 13 early polling places, and all were backing up Monday. This week's wait will average an hour, compared with 20 to 30 minutes last week, said Elections Director Michael Dickerson.

He said he can't haul in more machines than the 100 he has in place. The machines that will be used in Mecklenburg's 190 precincts are programmed to produce a ballot specific to that location. The early-voting machines take "smart cards" that generate a ballot based on the voter's address, allowing early voters to choose a convenient site.

Those machines store votes on five separate memory chips, Dickerson said; early votes will be tallied Election Day.

Asked for tips on avoiding a wait, Dickerson laughed.

"If I could do that," he said, "Disney would have me down in Orlando."