Early voting tests new machines

An average of seven voters per hour cast their ballots today on the first day of early voting for the May 2 primary election.

“It’s gone good today,” Dana King, director of the Lenoir County Board of Elections, said. “Everybody’s coming in and it’s not taking them long to vote. There’s not much on the ballot.”

All voters in the primary election are being asked to select one candidate each for associate judge of the state Supreme Court, two appeals court judges, and a $69.7 million school bond.

Democrats in District 1 can choose between two candidates for the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners: incumbent Claude Stroud and challenger Anthony Mitchell.

Republicans in District 10 of the state House of Representatives can choose between incumbent Stephen LaRoque and challenger Willie Ray Starling.

The new touch-screen voting machines, used today for the first time, are causing little if any problems for voters. The county bought 145 machines at a cost of almost $509,000 to comply with a recent federal law requiring every machine to have a paper trail. The record is an effort to prevent the type of ballot confusion that occurred in the last presidential election.

The federal government paid $333,601 towards replacing the old machines. The state paid $30,000 and the county paid the balance of $145,000.

The elections board office, 110 S. Herritage St., will be closed Friday through Sunday, but early voting will continue Monday and run through April 29, the last Saturday of the month. Voters can cast their ballots between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays. The office, which is the only site open for early voting, will not be open on Saturdays until April 29 when hours will be from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.

The single voting site for the primary is an economic measure.

“There’s no need to open up and spend money for two or three sites for this little on the ballot,” King said.

Lenoir County voters have been responding well to early voting. About 4,000 people voted early in the last presidential election. Since then, 500 to 700 people have turned out to vote early in various elections, King said.