Early voting begins statewide with a surprising ballot for some Charlotte voters

When Monique Godwin entered the voting booth on the first day of early voting, she was surprised at one name among the City Council candidates.

“I was completely shocked to see Patrick Cannon,” Godwin told The Charlotte Observer, referring to the former mayor now running for a Charlotte City Council at-large seat.

Cannon’s City Council bid is his first since being imprisoned for accepting bribes while in office. The other at-large Democratic Council candidates are Lawana Slack-Mayfield, Dimple Ajmera, Larken Egleston, Braxton Winston and James “Smuggie” Mitchell. Godwin said Cannon “may be better off as an adviser. That mistake was a major hit to his reputation and to Charlotte.”

Dozens of candidates have competitors for the primary in Mecklenburg County. The races include U.S. Senate, U.S. House, City Council, the Board of County Commissioners, Sheriff and judicial seats. And with the start of early voting on Thursday, voters and candidates alike can begin to build a picture of how many residents will vote in the 2022 primary.

After Thursday, 1,417 people had voted early across the county. That’s down from 2,232 on the first day of early voting for the 2018 primary and 2,237 in 2020.

At the old Kohl’s in the University area, the morning started off slow. Between 8 and 9:30 a.m., the number of voters was about equal to those of the poll workers and candidates. A slow trickle of voters cast ballots later in the morning at the Allegra Westbrooks Regional Library on Beatties Ford Road. Godwin was among them.

Godwin, a stay-at-home mom, said she was particularly excited to vote for Lawana Slack-Mayfield, a former City Council member who is running at-large.

“She’s been everywhere and doing everything and making a name for herself,” Godwin said.

Slack-Mayfield was one of several candidates at the Beatties Ford early voting site on Thursday.

One of the first people to vote at the old Kohl’s in the University area were Pam and Gene Watson, a retired couple who are registered Republicans, but said they planned to switch their party affiliation.

“Our philosophies have changed,” Pam Watson said.

She voted for former Gov. Pat McCrory in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, but plans to vote for Democrat and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley in the general election.

Bill Crowley, a retired teacher, voted at the Beatties Ford location in the mid-morning. He said he voted for Beasley in the Democratic primary, but wished he had a more liberal candidate to vote for. Crowley said he felt the same way about most offices on the ballot, though he did vote for Braxton Winston for City Council at-large, as well as Leigh Altman and Jennifer De La Jara for Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners.

There are 16 early voting sites in Mecklenburg County. In the 2018 and 2020 primaries, the first day as well as the last few days of early voting were the most popular. The last day to vote early this year is May 14.

Across the state, turnout during non-presidential elections is consistently lower than during the years when people vote for president, according to a report from Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer — about 15% in 2014 and 2018 versus about 30% in 2016 and 2020.

Bitzer expects about a 15% turnout rate statewide for the primary, with a majority of those casting ballots in the Republican election because of the U.S. Senate race.

In primaries, early voting has become more popular in recent years among voters of both parties. The percentage of N.C. voters who waited until Election Day to vote dropped from 77% in 2012 to 65% in 2020, Bitzer found.

Godwin is one of those voters who made the switch.

“I say I’m going to every year,” she said.

Several voters interviewed by The Charlotte Observer, including Godwin, said the process was smooth and there were no lines.

This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 6:00 AM.

Will Wright

The Charlotte Observer

Will Wright covers politics in Charlotte and North Carolina. He previously covered eastern Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader, and worked as a reporting fellow at The New York Times.