During the first weekend of early voting for the 2022 midterm election, 5,183 people have cast ballots at one-stop sites in Chatham County.
The county has five one-stop absentee voting sites — Apex, Goldston, Siler City and two in Pittsboro. The one-stop sites allow registered voters to cast an absentee ballot in person, and individuals can same-day register and vote at any early voting site in their county. On Election Day, voters can only cast ballots at their assigned polling place.
Data shared with the News + Record at press time included the total number of voters at each site from Oct. 20 through Oct. 23. Across the five voting sites, the highest turnout this weekend was on the first day of early voting, with 1,918 county residents participating in the electoral process that day.
According to the New York Times, absentee ballot requests are up 114% in N.C compared with requests in 2018.
Chatham County frequently tops in the state as a county with record high voter turnout. This year is probably won’t be different, Pandora Paschal, the director of the Chatham County Board of Elections, told the CN+R.
With many “hot, contested seats on the ballot,” Paschal said she thinks people are excited and ready to cast their ballots.
“We’ve got a busy start to this early voting season here,” she said.
The majority of Chatham residents who participated in one-stop early voting this weekend cast ballots at the Central Carolina Community College Chatham Health Sciences Center in Pittsboro at a total of 2,208 individuals. Next was the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center (set up in lieu of the Board of Elections Office) in Pittsboro with 1,335 voters, then New Hope Baptist Church in Apex with 830 voters, the Paul Braxton Gym in Siler City with 580 voters and the Goldston Town Hall with 230 voters.
The county has also extended early voting days to include Sunday — a first in a midterm election in Chatham.
“Chatham County voters, they really turn out to vote,” Paschal said. “So I’m glad, that makes me feel good, because it makes me feel like they trust the process.”
Early voting is running through Nov. 5, and the general midterm elections will be on Nov. 8. To find your polling location and hours, visit vt.ncsbe.gov/PPLkup/.
Reporter Maydha Devarajan can be reached at mdevarajan@chathamnr.com and on Twitter @maydhadevarajan.