Taking a look at early voting numbers

One-stop voting — also known as early voting — began Wednesday, Oct. 17, in North Carolina and will continue through Saturday, Nov. 3.

As of 11 a.m., on Wednesday Lenoir, Jones and Greene counties have seen a combined total of nearly 6,000 early voters* with 10 days left in the early voting period.

Out of a reported 38,621 eligible and registered voters in Lenoir County, almost 4,400 voters had turned out as of 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, an 11.4 percent turnout rate, said Lenoir County Board of Elections Director Dana King.

“Even though this is still a low turnout, as of today we have already had more to vote in six days than we did in the primary in May,” she said.

In Greene County, 1,058 of 11,531 registered voters had voted as of 3 p.m., Monday.

“Our one-stop site, located here at the Greene County Board of Elections office, has had almost 10 percent of the total number of registered voters in Greene County vote since opening last Wednesday,” Greene County Board of Elections Director Trey Cash said. “Our team of poll workers have done a phenomenal job of ensuring voters have had little to no wait to vote.”

Jones County has seen a 6 percent turnout rate during the early voting period, with 477 out of 7,281** registered voters casting their votes as of 11:10 a.m., Wednesday.

In 2014, 1,128 voters voted during the early voting period in Jones County.

“For this election, we are at 38 percent of the total early voters for 2014 within the first five days of voting,” Jones County Board of Elections Director Jennifer King said. “If these numbers stay steady we should see an increase in early voters for this election.”

Pitt County recorded 11,956 early voters out of 122,464 registered voters**, a 9.7 percent turnout.

Out of 69,155 voters** in Craven County, 8,104 have voted during the early voting period, a turnout of 11.7 percent.

One-stop voting sites allow any registered voter to submit an absentee ballot in person in the days prior to Election Day, and voters can vote at any of the one-stop voting sites in their county, not just in their specific precinct.

Find local one-stop voting sites here: www.neusenews.com/index/2018/10/19/election-2018-early-voting-times-and-locations.

* Voter turnout totals current for Lenoir County as of 11:30 a.m., Oct. 23; for Greene County as of 3 p.m., Oct. 23; for Jones County as of 11:10 a.m., Oct. 24; for Pitt County as of 7 p.m., Oct. 23; for Craven County as of 4 p.m., Oct. 24.

** Voter registration totals for Jones County current as of July 11, 2018; for Pitt County as of Nov. 6, 2016; for Craven County as of August 2018.