Did you see any unusual activity at polling stations Tuesday? Contact reporter Bruce Henderson at bhenderson@charlotteobserver.comor 704-358-5051.
Statewide results to be delayed
The statewide results from early voting and mail-in voting will be delayed Tuesday night by at least 45 minutes, until 8:15 p.m.
The N.C. State Board of Elections voted to extend the deadline to vote at one precinct in Sampson County by 45 minutes, due to some technical glitches they had there this morning. They also extended voting deadlines at three other precincts by shorter amounts of time — another one in Sampson County, one in Greensboro and one in Concord.
The vote was 3-2 with the board’s Democratic members in favor and the Republicans opposed. Republican member Tommy Tucker said 45 minutes was too long and should have been 30 minutes instead. However, the Democrats said that since the precinct was 45 minutes late in opening this morning, voters should get an additional 45 minutes this evening.
Historically, once polls close on election night, state officials immediately release the results of early voting and mail-in voting. Then over the following few hours, the full Election Day results are reported as those become known.
So even though the 45-minute delay only affects one polling place out of more than 2,600 statewide, it means that no results from early or mail-in voting will be made public until at least 8:15 p.m.
The vote was 3-2 with the board’s Democratic members in favor and the Republicans opposed. Republican member Tommy Tucker said 45 minutes was too long and should have been 30 minutes instead. However, the Democrats said that since the precinct was 45 minutes late in opening this morning, voters should get an additional 45 minutes this evening.
Rapper DaBaby arrived at noon at the Mallard Creek Elementary School polling site in the University area, where nearly 100 fans and volunteers waited for his arrival, to thank voters and encourage his fans to vote.
The performer, whose name is Jonathan Kirk, said he was particularly targeting young African Americans because he said he too needed that push when he was 18.
“We’ve got to get out here and vote,” Kirk said. “Somebody has to get us excited to really get out here and let our voices be heard, period.”
The rapper said he’s been voting since he first became eligible in 2016. He said he will vote for Joe Biden later Tuesday, with his biggest concerns “just fair treatment for everybody across this country.”
Adyson Holliday, 18, rushed to the polling site because she’s a fan of the rapper and will vote for the first time Tuesday afternoon. Holliday declined to say who she would vote for, but said the country is divided.
“I think it’s important to go out there and say who you want to be in charge of the country and how you want the country to be ruled,” she said.
As organizers passed out shirts that read “vote Baby vote,” DaBaby posed for photos with fans. Then he hopped back in his black SUV and went to the next polling site. to here
Jonathan Kirk, better known as DaBaby, talks to voters at a #NOCAP2020 bus tour at Mallard Creek Elementary School in Charlotte, NC, on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. DaBaby has been making appearances throughout Charlotte to encourage young voters to get out and vote on Election Day.
Armed man arrested at precinct
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police charged an armed man with trespassing at a polling site where he returned after being ordered to leave when voters said they felt intimidated by his presence.
Witnesses said a man wearing a holstered pistol, camouflage, boots and a Trump 2020 cap had flustered voters and cut short a Democratic press event Tuesday morning by circling the polling site at the Oasis Shrine Temple in University City. The precinct voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The man voted but continued to loiter in the area, police said. When officers arrived, a precinct official asked him to leave and banned him from the site. The man left but later returned, police said.
They charged Justin Dunn, 36, with second-degree trespassing.
An Observer reporter was talking with Dunn when five police officers approached and handcuffed him. Dunn, who wears a long beard and ponytail, had been sitting in a folding chair near the entrance to the polling place before his arrest.
“When I was going to go in to vote, I was yelled at by the people wearing the Black Lives Matter shirts that I have to wear a mask,” Dunn told The Observer. “I researched before I came here, and that’s not the case...”
Dunn said he has a permit to carry the weapon openly, and said his gun was loaded but without a bullet in the firing chamber. Dunn said that because of rising crime rates in the University area, and his support of President Donald Trump, “I fear for my life when out in public, especially when there’s Black Lives Matter T-shirts on there.
“I would have been on my way quite a long time ago until I was harassed — and I was harassed because people wanted to abuse their powers, and I don’t think that’s good,” he said. “So I just want to make a stance here to say, ‘I will not be intimidated.’ ”
Timothy Carmichael Sr., a Navy veteran who was at Precinct 212 as a poll watcher, said Dunn’s presence and visible weapon prompted him and several others to go to their cars to get their own firearms “because we can’t take no chances.”
“When you think somebody’s not gonna do something,” he added, “they do it and it causes a lot of casualties. So him knowing that we were packing, it deterred him from trying to do something to us.”
Witness Sam Spencer, senior advisor to 12th District Rep. Alma Adams’ campaign and her communications director, said Adams was driven away from the site after speaking at the press event. Other speakers included Mayor Vi Lyles, state Sen. Natasha Marcus and city council member Renee’ Johnson.
“Everybody should have the right to go to their polling place to vote and not be intimidated,” Spencer said. “It was clear in my mind there was no civic reason for him to linger around a polling place walking his dog and taking 40 minutes to vote.”
County elections board spokeswoman Kristin Mavromatis said officials investigated but were called by the man in question himself. “He of course is claiming that he was the one being intimidated,” she said.
Charlotte police officers search a man following his arrest on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The man who identified himself as, Justin, came to Precinct 212 at Oasis Shriners at 604 Doug Mayes Place in the University City area of Charlotte, NC with a firearm on his right hip. Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
N.C. elections director: ‘It’s been a smooth process’
State election officials predict the 1 million voters they expect at the polls Tuesday should not see long lines or extended waits, because more than six in 10 North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots.
State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell told reporters at mid-morning that there had been no reports of voter intimidation or deliberate misinformation.
“The reassurance for everyone is that nearly 4.6 million ballots have already been cast with very little to no incidences,” she said. “It’s been a smooth process. There were some long lines early on, but those eased up in the 17 days of early voting.”
Some lines were reported at Mecklenburg County polling sites, but by 9 a.m. many of those had vanished. York County, S.C., which had only three early-voting locations, saw generally longer lines.
Voters wait in line before casting their a ballots at the Greater Galilee Baptist Church precinct on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. David T. Foster III dtfoster@charlotteobserver.com
Gaston supporters say make a difference
At W.A. Bess Elementary School on Beatty Road in Gastonia, a group of five Trump supporters and a sixth Republican, sitting six feet away and wearing a mask, greeted visitors near the entrance of the polling site.
Angela Osian of Gastonia voted curbside. She said the biggest issues for her were abortion, which she’s against, and helping teachers. Osian thinks Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest will help teachers more than Cooper has, adding that teachers shouldn’t have to pay for basics school classroom needs out of their own pockets.
Nationally, she’s for Trump, who held a rally recently just a few miles away. “He has made a difference in the Christian agenda,” she said.
Daniel Burrell, 28, of Gastonia said he watched all the national debates and studied the local candidates. He said he was prepared to vote as he always had but switched this year, mainly because of his 10-month-old daughter.
He didn’t want to say who got his votes but said he picked who he thinks will lead to a better world for his daughter. “We need a sustainable country where we grow our own food,” he said, “a self-sufficient America in a sense.”
Less dependence on oil and fossil fuels from other countries, he said. And, a better education system.
Carol Gore, 50, of Indian Land, S.C., said she arrived at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church off Highway 160 at 6:55 a.m. to find a “ridiculously long” line and no open parking spaces.
“I knew I would be late for work, so I was just like, ‘forget it,’ ” she said. “I’m going to try again after work. ... And I passed another school that’s also a polling place that also had a ridiculously long line. I don’t think South Carolina really had the early voting the way Charlotte did, so I think most people in South Carolina are going out today. It’s crazy. In retrospect, I probably should have taken some time off from work.”
Gore said she hasn’t voted since 2000. “I just didn’t really care. I just didn’t want to. I just couldn’t be bothered. This year, I care, because we’re dealing with a major health crisis.”
She said her plan is to head straight back to her voting place after getting off work at 5:30 p.m., and that she’ll wait in whatever line there is for as long as necessary — to vote for Joe Biden.
Elizabeth Sterling, 45, of Matthews, said she got in line at Elizabeth Lane Elementary School in Matthews at 6:45 a.m. to find about 20 people ahead of her; she was finished voting at 7:15.
“I’ve always voted on Election Day,” Sterling said. “I’m pretty big on routines. I didn’t see any reason to switch it up this year. So I did the same thing I’ve always done since I voted starting at 18.”
The one thing that she said stood out to her was that the poll workers were noticeably younger — 45 to 50 years old, while in the past she’s always seen people 65-plus volunteering. Sterling also said everyone she observed was respectful and seemed to be in optimistic moods. She hopes that carries over into the coming days.
“I’m just hoping that whatever the results are, everyone can maintain some level of civility,” she said. “Let’s just kind of put a bow on this and move on ... and do some good things.”
A voter walks out of Garinger High School in Charlotte, NC on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. There were no lines at the high school on Tuesday and voters were able to easily come and go. Joshua Komer
Free food for some voters
Best Impressions Caterers was at precinct 22, Greater Galilee Baptist Church on West Park Avenue handing out free meals to the mid-morning line of about 40 voters.
Kaitlyn Kiser, account executive for Best Impressions, said that with donations from World Central Kitchens, they are providing a total of 1,000 breakfasts and 2,000 lunches at three sites, including precincts 211 and 230.
“It’s to encourage everyone to vote and thank them,” Kiser said.
Harriet’s Hamburgers also had 50 free burgers to give away, saying it wanted to “spread happiness.”
Voter Linda Baker, who has lived in the Wilmore area for about 30 years, lamented that so many people have died and been sickened by the coronavirus, or lost their jobs as she has.
“The wrong man is in there now,” she said. “He needs to be out.”
Some uptown Charlotte businesses are boarding up their windows in anticipation of potential unrest on an Election Day that has been preceded by growing partisan division and conflict.
About 40 pieces of plywood covered the windows and doors outside the Capital Grille, FOX 46 reported. Contractor Marcus Doby and his crew used plywood that had been stored after last summer’s protests in uptown.
“They’re expecting it to happen again,” Doby told the station.
Before dawn, uptown was largely quiet other than a few vehicles and bundled-up pedestrians. Along College Street, windows were boarded up at Forchetta, Holiday Inn’s Italian restaurant. A hotel manager told WCNC the decision was made Monday as a step toward “being cautious.”
A recent USA Today/Suffolk Polk found three out of four Americans are worried about potential violence this Election Day.
Election Day voting in the county’s 243 precincts began at 6:30 a.m. and goes until 7:30 p.m. TheState Board of Elections has said it expects 97% or more of all ballots cast in North Carolina will be counted and reported Tuesday night.
While Tuesday opened with lines at most Mecklenburg County polling sites, many others had no waiting voters by 9 a.m. More than six in 10 North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots at early-voting sites or with absentee ballots, state officials say. Some sites in South Carolina reported long lines.
As Charlotteans wake up and prepare to go to the polls, Forchetta in uptown Charlotte is boarded up Tuesday. Uptown businesses are boarding up as their anxiety grows on Election Day. Melissa Oyler
Early arrival at polls: ‘It was freezing’
Daniel Keller, 51, of Charlotte, said he arrived at his voting place for Precinct 88, Living Saviour Lutheran Church on Carmel Road, at 6 a.m. in hopes of getting it done as early as possible and being able to move on quickly to work. He was third in line when he arrived, and said the only thing notable about the wait was that “it was freezing.”
Keller said he was dead-set on voting on Election Day, even though he had ample opportunity to early-vote, because of tradition.
“I’ve always voted on Election Day,” Keller said. “I think it’s a neat tradition just as a country, and I love to see long lines. That’s encouraging to me, that people are participating. And I don’t want this to be controversial, but I don’t quite understand the early-voting thing. There’s Election Day for a reason. That’s the day you go vote. That’s what I’ve always done — and that’s probably what I’ll always do even if there are 17 other options. That’s just what I’ve always done.”
“I’m not knocking anybody who early-voted,” he added. “Good on them. I’m glad they voted.”
The line at Steele Creek Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Hill on York Road was about 40 people deep when polls opened. The temperature was a brisk 34 degrees.
Jimmy Graves, 63, of Steele Creek stood in line wearing a winter coat and holding a cup of coffee. He said he waited until Election Day to vote because he feels it’s more secure to vote in person.
“I like to go to the polls and cast my ballot,” he said.
Nailah Wright, 27, of Steele Creek said the reason she was voting on November 3 was because she had procrastinated.
“But it’s important to me, so that’s why I’m here,” she said.
She declined to say who she would vote for but said her choice is based on her moral views as a woman, a Black woman and as a millennial.
Pam Garland, 59, of Steele Creek was wearing a black face mask with the word “vote” in white. She had been sick but was feeling better and said she wouldn’t miss her “civic duty” to vote.
Garland said her parents taught her that if you want change, you have to be part of the resolution.
“And there’s always room for change,” she said.
Bricene Sierra exited the polling station proud of her first-time voter, daughter Shauna Campbell, 19.
“With everything going on in the world, just vote,” Sierra said.
Campbell admitted she didn’t want to get out of bed early to be at Steele Creek precinct #243 by 6:15 a.m. But, she said, it’s important for everyone, including Black girls like herself, to exercise their rights.
“I feel like with the climate right now, you have to make a difference in your community,” she said. “I feel I accomplished doing my part.”
Cora Player and her husband Chuck arrived at their polling place at the Philip T. Glennon Community Center in Tega Cay, S.C., at 6:15 a.m., 45 minutes before the polls in South Carolina were to open. There were 8 to 10 people already in front of them, she said, including a woman who said she had been there since 5:15 a.m.
The line behind them grew over the next 45 minutes. When the Players walked out after voting, she said at least 200 people were in a line that snaked alongside the community center, turned where the golf course starts, and ended right near the edge of Molokai Drive.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” said Cora Player, 46, of Tega Cay, “because I felt like a lot of our friends had voted early, and so I was surprised to see that many people standing in line.”
“The last time that we voted we went in the morning as well, but I’m sure we got there maybe right when it opened, and there was a little bit of a line, but nothing going back to the road with hundreds of people. It’s pretty amazing to see that.”
She said she waited to vote because — unlike where they used to live, in North Carolina — South Carolina has a limited number of places to vote early. Due to the nature of her job, Player said she also couldn’t afford to drive 30 minutes each way and wait in lines that she’d heard were 90 minutes or more.
“It was a risk,” she said, “because what if I got sick? That’s what I kept thinking about: What if I got coronavirus and I would miss the one day to go and vote?”
Turnout for what many voters see as an election of historic significance surged to an unprecedented level well before Tuesday.
By Monday afternoon, more than 474,000 of Mecklenburg County’s 790,000 voters had already gone to one of the 33 polling sites or had cast approved mail-in ballots. More than 4.5 million of North Carolina’s 7.3 million registered voters, or 62%, had done so.
Voters will decide races for president, U.S. Senate and House, governor and lieutenant governor, the legislature, statewide offices such as attorney general, state appellate and district court judges, and county commissioners.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took Mecklenburg in 2016 with 62% of the vote to Trump’s 33%, although Trump won North Carolina by nearly 4 percentage points.
Trump’s campaign has blanketed North Carolina this year as the president tried to overcome a slight polling deficit to Democrat Joe Biden. The president’s appearances in Hickory on Sunday and Fayetteville on Monday bring to eight the visits by Trump or Vice President Mike Pence in October alone.
In the most expensive Senate race in history, Republican Thom Tillis has been locked in a tight race with Democrat Cal Cunningham that could determine which party controls the Senate. Revelations in early October about an extramarital affair by Cunningham opened him up to accusations of dishonesty.
After two hard-fought battles for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District attracted national attention, the race has been quieter this year.
Republican Dan Bishop beat well-funded Democrat Dan McCready in a special election for the district last year. The 2018 election for the seat was invalidated due to alleged election fraud to benefit the Republican candidate, Baptist pastor Mark Harris. Bishop now faces Democrat Cynthia Wallace, a finance executive.
Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who narrowly beat incumbent Republican Pat McCrory in 2016, has been consistently ahead of Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest in the polls. Forest has attacked Cooper for not reopening schools and businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, but Cooper has tripled Forest’s campaign fundraising.
Whether Democrats continue to dominate Mecklenburg legislative races will help determine control of the N.C. House, which Republicans have led since 2010. Their majority narrowed in the 2018 election, to 65 seats to Democrats’ 55, as Democrats won all 12 House seats in the county.
Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one in Mecklenburg County, but more than one third of registered voters are unaffiliated.
The outcome of some races might not be quickly clear.
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to let N.C. officials count absentee ballots until Nov. 12, as long as they’re postmarked by Nov. 3, giving the state one of the longest grace periods in the nation. If there are lines anywhere in the state at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, results won’t be released until every poll shuts down.
Bruce Henderson writes about transportation, emerging issues and interesting people for The Charlotte Observer. His reporting background is in covering energy, environment and state news.
