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Murphy – Early voting ends Saturday, with Election Day set Tuesday for a mid-term election that will have meaningful impacts from Cherokee County to Washington, D.C.
As of Monday, 1,054 people took advantage of early voting in Cherokee County out of 24,620 registered voters.
Statewide, early voting turnout has been 4.3% of total eligible voters, with 331,970 votes cast as of Monday. Early voting totals include early voting as well as mailed ballots from civilians military and overseas.
Although registered Republicans slightly outnumber Democratic Party registrants (with unaffiliated registrants outnumber them both), Democratic Party voters have had a significantly larger turnout in early voting results, according to the N.C. Board of Elections, accounting for 42.73% of votes cast as of Monday.
Granular statistics are not available at the county level, so the only comparison between Cherokee County and statewide statistics is voter turnout – 4.2% for Cherokee compared to 4.3% statewide. Turnout statewide has been significantly higher than for the 2022 midterm primary – 331,970 so far this year, compared to 248,038 in 2022, according to the state Board of Elections.
Voting
Early voting times are from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Early voting takes places at the Cherokee County Board of Elections office at 40 Peachtree St. downtown.
Election Day voting is Tuesday, with polls opening throughout the county starting at 6:30 a.m. and closing at 7:30 p.m. Preliminary results will be announced later that evening.’
Visit vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLk to look up to find your polling place and sample ballot.
Notable races
Midterm elections – so named because they fall halfway between presidential election years – have significant impacts on local, statewide and national offices.
At the national level, Senate and House races in North Carolina could determine control of Congress and have significant impacts on the last two years of President Donald Trump’s Administration.
At the state level, although state Senate and House races are contested, it appears unlikely that Democratic candidates will wrest control from Republicans, but will impact whether Republicans have a veto-proof majority.
In Cherokee County, voters will choose from several contested races:
- Cherokee County Board of Commissioners District 1 (Andrews), Republican ballot: Three candidates including incumbent Cal Stiles and challengers Jeana Conley and Steve Jordan.
- Cherokee County Board of Commissioners District 3 (Murphy area): Republican ballot: Two candidates including Steve Coleman and Mark Stalcup. Incumbent Ben Adams is not running.
- Cherokee County Board of Commissioners District 4 (southwest Cherokee County), Republican ballot: Three candidates, including incumbent Dan Eichenbaum and challengers Sue Lynn Ledford and Barry Killian. Candidate Tom O’Leske appears on the ballot but has dropped out of the race.
- Cherokee County Board of Education at-large, Republican ballot: Stephen Dartez and Randy Phillips.
- Cherokee County Board of Education District 2 (Murphy), Republican ballot: Incumbent Jeannie Gaddis and David Ricks.
- Cherokee County Board of Education District 3 (Hiwassee Dam), Republican ballot (two seats): Incumbents Jason Murphy and Shannon Raper, with challenger Gary Butler.
- Cherokee County sheriff, Republican ballot: Chris Wood and Sam May. Incumbent Dustin Smith appears on the ballot but has resigned and dropped out of the race.
Competitive primary races for state and federal offices with local impacts include U.S. Senate, N.C. House of Representatives District 11, N.C. Senate District 50 and N.C. House of Representatives District 120.
Unopposed races
Several Democratic candidates are running unopposed and will face off against winners in the Republican primaries in the general election Tuesday, Nov. 3.
They include Rex Cable for Cherokee County Board of Commissioners District 1, Judith Bodley for Cherokee County Board of Commissioners District 3 and Joy Stein for Cherokee County Board of Education District 3.
Unaffiliated candidates
Unaffiliated candidates running for school board at-large seats will also be on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
They include Tom Beasley and Flip Watson. Carmen Garland has told her supporters she has collected enough petition signatures to qualify as an unaffiliated candidate for the District 3 school board seat, but her name has not yet shown up on the State Board of Elections website.