Early voting begins Oct. 16

Friday final day to register to vote By LIZZ HAROLD
Cherokee Scout Tuesday, October 7, 2008 8:05 PM CDT     Murphy – Early voting for the 2008 election season begins Thursday, Oct. 16, and runs until Saturday, Nov. 1.

    Absentee ballots are in the process of being mailed out in Cherokee County. Board of Elections Director Leighsa Jones said absentee voters have risen in the last four years.

    “I would say that absentees are up for the primary 15 percent from the last presidential election,” she said. “We have recently had lots of calls and inquiries about early voting.”     Absentee ballots are designed to allow those who are unable to get to poll sites on the day of elections to cast their vote through the mail. Registration for absentee voting is available through the board of elections office, and family members are able to apply for relatives.

    Jones has mailed out 575 absentee ballots thus far, including military and overseas addresses. The mail-out process will continue until Tuesday, Oct. 28.

    A new polling site for early voters will be set up in Andrews. Jones said the additional site will make it easier for voters to cast their ballots. The site is on U.S. 19 inside the Andrews Mountain Real Estate building. The original site remains in the elections office in downtown. Andrews site voting is from 10 a.m to 6 p.m., while the Murphy site’s is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    North Carolina has nearly 6.1 million voters, a record-breaking number that rose by 600,000 since 2004. More than 20,000 registered county voters are expected to turn out for the 2008 elections in the next 30 days.

    The deadline to register to vote is Friday. For details, call 837-6670.

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