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Pedro Velasquez settled in line Saturday, armed with everything he needed for a long wait.
He had come to the Independence Regional Library to cast his first vote as an American citizen.
He had a portable chair, water, a magazine and a piping-hot pizza. Still, as the hours wore on, it became clear the best thing the 39-year-old construction worker had brought was his resolve.
“I don't care how long it takes,” he said. “I will cast my vote today.”
Velasquez was one of thousands of Charlotteans who spent the better part of Saturday crowding early-voting centers, bringing an emphatic end to a record-breaking voting period.
By the time they finish counting, more than 205,000 Mecklenburg County voters will have cast early ballots, Michael Dickerson, director of the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, said late Saturday evening.
Officials say the figures represent more than 33 percent of registered voters in the county, and about half the expected turnout for this election.
Through Friday nearly 2.2 million N.C. voters had cast ballots early this year, more than 32 percent of the state's registered voters.
“I think it is safe to say the voters are engaged this year, and we expect that to continue through Election Day,” he said.
State officials are expecting a 70 percent statewide turnout Tuesday, or about 4.5 million voters. That would break the N.C. record of 68 percent set during the 1984 election.
That year, President Ronald Reagan was seeking a second term, and Republican U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms was fighting off a strong bid for his job by Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt.
This year's presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain also has been a heated fight, and it carries the added weight of a historical first.
An Obama victory would make him the first black man elected president. Officials have acknowledged that Democrats and African Americans are turning out for early voting in disproportionately large numbers.
“This is history in the making,” said Earl Durah, 38. “This election will represent a shift in this country. … A lot of people want to be a part of that.”
Durah waited in line with Velasquez Saturday. The two men, both Obama supporters, debated politics for hours. The line at Independence Regional was taking about four hours from start to finish.
Every so often an ice cream truck or a pizza delivery person would pull up, and a handful of hungry voters would peel out of line briefly.
A few miles away, at the Plaza-Midwood Library, voters waited for more than five hours to cast their ballots. Many read books and magazines. Some listened to music.
Curtrina Pharr, 23, kept her aunt, Ethel Ivey, company and thought about election night.
“It feels like New Year's to me,” she said. “It's exciting. The world will seem like a different place on Tuesday.”
Not everyone was excited to wait hours in line. Sally and Sara McMillan were a few hundred people behind Pharr Saturday. The mother and daughter had come out because Sara McMillan works Tuesday.
While the two women support different same candidates – Sally McMillan supports McCain, while her daughter backs Obama – they agreed on one thing: Voting should be easier.
“Why make it so difficult?” Sally McMillan said. “In Oregon they mail in their ballots, and it works just fine.”
Some think the traditional election day setup has played a part in a decline in voter turnout, which until this year seemed to get worse.
To fix it, some have suggested mail-in ballots. Others have pushed for making Election Day a national holiday.
But all that is academic this year. The good news, elections director Dickerson said, is that Election Day should run a little faster and more smoothly than the early voting has gone.
Mecklenburg County will operate 195 polling locations, far more than the 20 early voting spots. And on Tuesday, voters can get into and out of their precincts more quickly. Early voting requires more paperwork, slowing the process.
On Saturday, hundreds of people were still in line when the stations closed at 5 p.m. They were all allowed to vote, a process that stretched past 8 p.m. at many locations.
Xiomara Santos and her friend Sonia Bush made it to the voting center on 7th Street a few minutes before the deadline. At 8 p.m. they were just making their way into the center, the last two voters of the night. The two, both Obama supporters, smiled and talked enthusiastically about the election.
Bush had driven down from Virginia the night before. Her job had taken her out of town. But since she lives here, she came back to vote.
“It was totally worth it,” she said. “I feel like I'm doing something important.”
