Looking to vote early and easily? Mecklenburg County has tips for how to do it right
The biggest thing Mecklenburg County elections director Michael Dickerson now knows about local voters is that they don’t accept being limited to Election Day or always trusting their ballots to the mail.
“Not everybody wants to vote by mail. Not everybody wants to be told how they have to vote — by going on Election Day. This county has proven over the last 20 years that the voters prefer to vote in-person and early,” Dickerson said in a Friday interview with the Observer.
So with the COVID-19 pandemic complicating the process, the Board of Elections sought out 33 sites for early voting, which started Thursday and runs through Oct. 31. More than 35,000 voted in Mecklenburg County Thursday, exceeding the prior single-day high of 29,000 on the last Friday of early voting in 2016.
All 33 sites are open seven days a week and have the same hours: 8 a.m to 7:30 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays. The county encourages wearing mask (although, by guidance of the state Attorney General’s office, voters can’t be denied access for declining to do so).
If you want to vote early as quickly and simply as possible, Dickerson offered tips Friday to minimizing hassle:
Go soon
With the initial rush of first-day voting over, this coming week will be less crowded than the last week of October. Particularly, look to avoid voting on Friday Oct. 30 or Saturday, Oct. 31, the last options before the Nov. 3 Election Day.
“Plan a time that is not the last day or the last hour of early voting,” Dickerson said. “That last Friday, Oct. 30, I expect every site to be very, very busy.”
Slower hours/days
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon tend to be the slowest times. For instance, there were about 200 people lined up at Spectrum Center, the largest venue by number of voting machines (38), when the sites opened at 8 a.m. However, by 9:30 a.m., there was no line at all.
Dickerson says weekends will be busier than weekdays, both because more people have free time and because weekend hours are shorter.
Parking concerns
The Hornets have arranged for free parking at the Center City Green parking deck across 5th Street from Spectrum Center. There is also ample parking in the lots surrounding Bojangles’ Entertainment Complex.
Dickerson said the 12 high schools serving as early-voting sites should have plenty of parking available. Some smaller sites, such as libraries, might not have lots of parking available case-by-case.
Long lines
There were some sites Thursday that had longer waits to vote (in socially-distanced lines that limit those waiting inside buildings).
Dickerson mentioned the former Pier One store on J.W. Clay Blvd. in the University Area, the library on Beatties Ford Road and the former Wells Fargo branch on Sharon Road near Southpark Mall as locations that had long lines Thursday.
Dickerson suggested voters know of sites near their first choice, in case a long line forms. For instance, the former Wells Fargo site is a couple miles drive from Myers Park High School, where the lines were much shorter Thursday.
Dickerson said he’s investigated some sort of notification system that could alert voters how long wait times are at each site. That’s still in development.
“I would love to do something like that,” Dickerson said, “but I am not promising anything right now” for this election cycle.
Machine ratio
There is a wide range of how many voting machines each site has. That is based on space available for social distancing in the pandemic. Based on CDC recommendation, voting machines must be spaced at least six feet apart.
The most machines is 38 at Spectrum Center, the fewest is six at the library on West Boulevard. Dickerson said most sites are in the range of 15 to 20 machines.
He mentioned a high school gymnasium as the typical space — large enough to hold about 15 to 18 machines with space for social-distancing and separate entry and exit routes.
Public transportation
Dickerson said as the county took public transportation into consideration, sometimes going with smaller buildings because of proximity to routes.
Obviously, Bank of America Stadium and Spectrum Center, two large venues, are close to stops on the Blue Line light rail and the arena is also near the uptown transportation center. Additionally, the libraries at Beatties Ford Road and West Blvd., were appealing for their proximity to bus routes.
Pandemic concerns
Dickerson said the Board of Elections’ biggest concern was protecting voters and poll workers in public spaces, regarding the pandemic. He feels that showed Thursday, when 35,000 used the sites.
“People saw we had sneeze guards up, we had hand sanitizers, we had masks and face shields. Also, the unique stylus/pen” that each voter was provided to cast a ballot, Dickerson said. “All the poll workers I talked to were delighted how they were kept safe.”
