Lines leading into the Clay County Board of Elections office on the Hayesville square have stabilized with little wait time as one-stop enters its final days.
Early in-person voting at the county Elections Board in Hayesville continues Thursday and Friday,8a.m. to 5p.m. and 8a.m.to 3 p.m. on the final day, Saturday, Oct. 31.
Elections Board Director Rebecca Hall said Saturdays have been fairly slow. “We’ve only done about 200 each Saturday,” she said.
While the Nov. 3 general election is still a few days away, nearly half of Clay County’s voters have already casts ballots. As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, 4,295 residents had voted. That number encompasses 653 processed mail-in ballots and another 3,642 one-stop voters totaling about 47 percent of registered voters. There were more than 1,000 mail-in ballots requested.
Clay County’s numbers mirror the voting trend statewide. As of Tuesday, 3,411,950 ballots, or 47 percent of registered voters had cast ballots with 804,812 coming in the form of mail-in and another 2,607,038 from one-stop.
Those who plan to wait until the general election on Tuesday can vote at your precinct between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
There are few local offices on this year’s ballot. Four men are running for three seats on the county commission board: Republican incumbents’ Randy Nichols, Rob Peck and Clay Logan along with Constitution Party candidate Robert Tison. The two school board seats held by Danny Jones and Reba Beck are unopposed.
Hall said precincts are set up and ready to go. She asked that voters remember to practice safety guidelines including social distancing. Face masks are not required, but the precincts will have them available for those who want one.
In Clay County Hall said voters can expect to know the outcome the night of the election; statewide it could be different.
“North Carolina’s will be different because depending on how close the races are could be changed if there are enough provisionals or outstanding absentees to change the result,” she said.
Clay County’s nine precincts will be fully staffed and represented by each party. The judges and assistants have one from each party. There are two chief judges, two judges, two assistants, control worker and a sanitizer, Three have student assistants.
In addition, parties who wish to have observers in precincts must have the persons’ names turned in by the party by 10 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 29. “There are rules they have to follow and they cannot impede the voting process or speak to voters,” Hall said.
As far as campaigning, it is not allowed within the 50- foot buffer zone; however, voters can wear shirts, hats, buttons, whatever they like, but “when they are done voting they have to leave or go past the 50 foot buffer zone,” Hall explained.
The Clay County Board of Elections is overseen by a board made up of members from both parties. Chairman is Jerry Anderson (D), secre- tary is Gail Criss (D); other members are Patrick Margo (R) Paul Rohs (R) and Keyla Youngblood-Stillwell (D).
If you have questions regarding voting status or where to vote, call 389-6812.