RALEIGH - North Carolina can inspire the nation if voters flock to the polls when early voting begins Oct. 16, the national president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, said Friday.

Jealous, in town for the state NAACP convention, said North Carolina is a key part of the group's efforts to bring historic numbers of black voters to the polls.

"We hope that North Carolina will be a beacon to the rest of the country," Jealous said.

North Carolina is one of more than 30 states that now have no-excuse early voting, said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP chapter. Calling his get-out-the-vote campaign the Millions Voting March, Barber urged voters to go to the polls as early as possible. He said black voters should "remember every time people have marched so that we might have the rights we have today."

Jealous and Barber said they have no concerns about the state's voter registration process, which was called into question this week by a New York Times investigation. The state has been unnecessarily checking Social Security numbers of new voters, the Times found. That could create a barrier for those whose names and Social Security numbers don't match the federal Social Security database, which is plagued with errors.

Barber said that he doesn't think the registration process will stop anyone from voting but that he will watch closely for trouble.

"We surely would call it if we saw it," Barber said. "But I don't see any evidence of that."

Jealous, 35, is a dynamic president that many hope will re-energize the nearly100-year-old NAACP. He took the post Sept. 1, after leading the Rosenberg Foundation in San Francisco. The foundation advocates for immigrants and working-class families. He is also a former news executive and community organizer.

In a speech Friday, he called Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's nomination for president a victory in the group's fight to desegregate politics. He joked that his 92-year-old grandmother is giddy at the thought of seeing "two little black girls having pajama parties at the White House."

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