Spectrum Center finally opens Thursday — to voters, not fans. Here’s how it works
If you head to Spectrum Center to vote early, your time inside the uptown arena shouldn’t last long.
Early voting starts Thursday and runs through Oct. 31 at 33 Mecklenburg County sites. Spectrum Center is the largest of those by voting-machine number with 38 polling stations.
The goal, with the pandemic in mind, is to have voters inside the buildings for as short of a period as possible. For instance, voters will be limited to the number of machines, plus 19 check-in stations, along the arena concourse on the 5th Street side of the building. Additional voters will queue outside, in a socially distanced line. There is an overhang on that side of the building which should provide some cover from inclement weather.
The 38 polling stations at Spectrum Center were set by the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections and are the most for an early-voting site in county history, but far fewer than the 300 machines spaced around State Farm Arena, the comparable NBA facility in Atlanta. Most early-voting sites in Mecklenburg County will have far fewer than 38 machines.
That number, and the layout of those machines in two rows separated by a concourse, creates a traffic flow in one arena entrance along 5th Street (near the Blue Line light rail tracks), and out another near the practice court, to avoid crowding indoors.
The Board of Elections sought out large public spaces to help create social distancing: Bank of America Stadium and Bojangles Coliseum will also be used.
Some tips if you plan to vote early:
▪ Hand sanitizer and masks are available for voters, as well as Q-tips to safely use equipment. Surfaces should be cleaned frequently, and there will be barriers between poll workers and voters at check-in tables, among other safeguards outlined by the State Board of Elections.
▪ Voters are strongly encouraged to wear masks while in a voting site, to protect both voters and poll workers. However, voters can’t be refused the opportunity to vote for declining to wear face-coverings, under guidance from the N.C. Attorney General’s office.
▪ At Spectrum Center, voters will receive a pen wrapped in plastic that can be used as a stylus for the voting machine and to write your signature to confirm your voting status.
▪ Free parking will be available for those voting at Spectrum Center at the Center City Green parking deck, across 5th Street from Spectrum Center. Parking arrangements at other early-voting sites will vary by location.
▪ Early-voting hours: Weekdays 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Saturdays 8 a.m.-3 p.m. and Sundays 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Arena reopening
This will be the first time since the NBA season was halted March 11 that Spectrum Center will be open to the public.
“We’ve been shut down since March. Buildings like this are not meant to not have activity,” said Spectrum Center general manager Donna Julian. “It’s a building where people gather and connect; what a great opportunity this is to be the first (way) to get people back in the building.
“When we do events, we talk about creating memories. Well, this is going to be a memory for people.”
Heavy early turnout?
Between COVID-19 concerns and massive interest in a presidential election year, there’s cause to think large numbers of North Carolina voters will choose early options.
The state has about 7.2 million registered voters. As of Tuesday, the state had received more than 1.3 million requests for by-mail absentee ballots, and more than 500,000 of those mail-in ballots had already been cast.
Anticipating a heavy desire to vote early, and hopefully lessening crowding on the Nov. 3 election day, the county board of elections looked for a wide variety of early-voting sites and welcomed the size of venues like Spectrum Center and the Carolina Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium as ways to facilitate social-distancing.
“They’re considering us a mega-site,” Julian said of Spectrum Center, which is owned by the city of Charlotte and managed by the Hornets. The Hornets offered the arena for early voting as part of a wider voting initiative they call “Swarm the Polls.”
“This just made sense: This is the city’s building, it’s the community’s building,” Julian said. “It’s here for everybody. So it’s a natural fit for people to have the opportunity to vote.”
