Lines form as early voting starts

Eager voters stood in lines at early voting spots in the Triangle this morning long before they opened.

More than 50 people were waiting in line at the Wake Board of Elections office in downtown Raleigh. Others started lining up at the Durham board's headquarters, another one-stop site, before 6 a.m.

"It's been an exciting election," said Harvey Diggs III, who got to the polling place on N.C. Central University's campus at 8:11 this morning to be first in line.

By the time the doors opened at 9, Carolyn Edgerton was one of dozens waiting to get in the door. Edgerton, 63, said she was going to vote a split-ticket for the first time and vote for Republican John McCain for president.

"I usually support a straight Democratic ticket," said Edgerton, a retired software engineer. There's been a lot of talk about change this year, but "I need to know what that change is going to be," she said.

Hundreds of N.C. Central students gathered for a cross-campus march to the polls while a helicopter buzzed overhead.

"I feel like I'm voting for the future generation," Bre'ylon A. Smith, a 22-year-old education major from Youngstown, Ohio.

An energetic Mike Ashe, Durham's elections director, made the rounds of polling places this morning.

"Everything is going great," he said. "Life is good. Democracy is open for business."

Wake Elections Director Cherie Poucher said more than 200 early voters had already cast their ballots at the board's downtown office by 10:15 a.m.

"We're offering more sites for early voting, more hours, and they like the convenience," she said. "We're expecting a record turnout."

In downtown Winston-Salem, the line of early voters at the Forsyth County Government Center was 200 deep at 10 a.m., according to resident Matt W. Cohen. A former field organizer for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign who is returning to East Carolina University in January to complete his degree, Cohen said he's never seen a line that long for early voting.

Many of the voters are worried about getting caught in even longer, slower lines on Election Day, said Cohen, 24.

"Obviously the campaigns have been engaged in getting the early vote out more and more," said Cohen, who planned to vote the straight Democratic ticket. "There's a pretty understandable sense here among the voters I've talked to that it's going to be near impossible to vote on Election Day."

Every county has at least one site where voters can cast ballots through Nov. 1. Many counties, including those in the Triangle, have multiple sites. People also can register to vote at the early-voting sites.

POLLING PLACES

Check your county's board of elections for early voting sites and hours. These sites may be different from your usual voting place.

All one-stop voting sites will be open during business hours Monday through Friday, although opening and closing times vary. Some counties will have sites open on weekends.

On Election Day, anyone in line when the polls close can vote. During early voting, that decision is up to the county elections board.

ABSENTEE VOTING -- NOT JUST FOR THE ABSENT

Absentee ballots do not require an excuse. That means anyone who doesn't want to face lines can vote by mail.

Ballots must be received by the county elections board by 5 p.m. on the day before the election to be counted.

DON'T MISS VOTING FOR PRESIDENT AND JUDGES

Ballots allow voters to fill in a circle for straight-party voting. But filling in the straight-party-ticket circle won't register a vote for president, judicial races and nonpartisan contests such as school board.