Thousands in N.C. line up for early voting

The brisk pace reflects predictions that general election turnout will set records this year

Louise Renner, 79, voted Thursday for the first time since 1976. Using a walker, she inched down Fayetteville Street from the Sir Walter Apartments to be one of the first to cast her ballot at the Wake Board of Elections office in downtown Raleigh.

Renner declined to reveal whom she was voting for but said that she wanted to make a statement by voting early.

"I'm so burned up with the way this country is being run," she said. "It's not just one thing, but everything."

Val Simpson, 66, used to think that she would not live to see a black candidate with a real chance of becoming president.

"I've seen it all -- the dogs, the marches -- I've come full circle," said Simpson as she stood in line outside the elections office near downtown Durham. "Thank you, Jesus, that I'm here to see it. Thank you."

Civic duty, the sense they were making history or just the desire to get voting over with sent thousands to the polls for the first day of early voting in an election season expected to set turnout records.

Statewide vote totals were not available, and efforts to reach Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections, were unsuccessful. But in Durham, voters arrived at the election headquarters before 6 a.m., knowing they wouldn't be able to get in until 9 a.m., said local elections director Mike Ashe. More than 6,250 people had voted in Durham by the end of the day.

"This is huge," Ashe said. "It doesn't take a genius to know this is a big election. There's no incumbent president, no incumbent governor. Commissioners, taxes, we've got everything on this ballot. Obviously, the presidential election is driving this train."

More than 6,000 Wake voters had cast ballots by 5 p.m., said Cherie Poucher, the county's elections director. She said she was startled when she got to work and saw the line outside the building. "This election is of more interest than any other general election in the 18 years that I've been here," she said.

N.C. a swing state

The presidential campaigns are paying unusual attention to North Carolina this year, with polls showing a tie between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. No Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since Jimmy Carter did in 1976.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin visited the state Thursday. McCain is coming to the state Saturday, and Obama is returning Sunday.

The atmosphere was electric Thursday as voters crowded polling places around the state.

Kenny McLawhorn, 18, a UNC-Chapel Hill freshman from Kinston, participated in his first election Thursday. He voted a straight Republican ticket, even though he said he was not happy with the way President Bush has conducted the war in Iraq.

"McCain I see as not as far right as Bush is," McLawhorn said. "He's more moderate, and Obama's too far left."

McLawhorn said early voting was convenient and exciting because North Carolina has become a swing state this election.

Both parties have emphasized early voting this year, but the feeling that Obama could win here appeared to energize his supporters.

When poll workers at Wake's election headquarters unlocked the doors at 8:30 a.m., there were more than 50 early birds in a line that wrapped around a corner of the building. The Obama vibe was strong, with a handful wearing his name on buttons, T-shirts and, in one case, a baseball cap. As the line moved forward, at least two people loudly exclaimed to each other that he was why they were there.

At N.C. Central University in Durham, hundreds of students marched across campus to a polling place set up in a former church.

Carolyn Edgerton, 63, had been there hours earlier, waiting in a line that had grown to at least 40 by the time the doors opened.

A retired software engineer, Edgerton said she was voting for McCain. She didn't want to proclaim her choice too loudly, surmising that she was waiting with mostly Obama supporters.

"I like McCain's viewpoint on some of the issues," she said. Obama has talked a lot about change, she said, "but I need to know what that change is going to be."

Turnout was heavy in Mecklenburg County, and the elections board expects much higher turnout this year than four years ago.

For the 2004 presidential election, about 100,000 voters cast their ballots early out of 325,000, said Mecklenburg elections director Michael Dickerson. He said he expects about 400,000 votes to be cast for this election, with 150,000 early.

Triangle elections officials reported no significant problems.

A Chatham voter noticed that a machine was not reading all ballots. Dawn Stumpf, Chatham's elections director, said a machine rejected one or two ballots, but the votes were entered in the end.

"We accounted for all of them."