More locals going to the polls early
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Murphy – When early one-stop voting concluded Saturday, Cherokee County already had 11,405 people cast their vote whether in person or by mail.
That’s a 50.3 percent turnout rate – and before Election Day.
“I didn’t think it would be that high,” Director of Elections Leighsa Jones said.
Of those votes, 9,423 were through the one-stop voting at the Cherokee County Board of Elections Office, while 1,982 were absentee.
Republicans outnumbered Democrats in early voting – 5,075 Republicans voted early in person and 682 returned their absentee ballot, while 1,523 Democrats voted early in person and 667 returned absentee ballots. The county also had 2,792 unaffiliated voters vote in person and 620 return absentee ballots.
In 2016, 7,136 took advantage of the one-stop early voting. A total 14,280 people voted out of 23,856 people registered in 2016, a turnout of 59.8 percent. Jones said she has seen turnouts as high as 65 percent in the county.
While the number of absentee ballots returned far exceeds the 618 cast in 2016, there could be more on the way, as 2,764 were requested in this election. Of those requested, 974 were for registered Republicans, 925 were for registered Democrats and 849 were for those with no party affiliation. About 9 percent of county Republicans requested absentee ballots, while about 22 percent of Democrats did.
Absentee ballots had be returned to the county Board of Elections by Election Day or postmarked by Nov. 3 to be counted. A court ruling determined absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 must be delivered to the elections office by Nov. 12.
Voters were allowed to choose to vote in-person after requesting an absentee ballot as long as they only voted once. The turnout rate for the county was lower than the state’s 61.6 percent at the end of the day Saturday.
As of Oct. 31, there were 22,687 people registered to vote in Cherokee County. Republicans far outweigh Democrats, 10,914-4,278. There are also 7,347 unaffiliated voters in the county and 158 registered with other parties.