County ranks 3 of 17 in last week’s early voting turnout

Published 6:35 pm Monday, August 26, 2019

About 2.5% of Beaufort County voters turned out last week for a special election that will send one candidate to Congress. One Stop voting started Aug. 21 and will continue through Sept. 6.

A total of 240 voters cast ballots on Wednesday; another 273 on Thursday. Rounding out the week on Friday, another 258 votes were recorded, according to One Stop daily totals from the Beaufort County Board of Elections.

“We’re doing alright. I don’t think we’re going to be at levels equal to the general (election) or an even year (election), but I think the turnout will be good,” said Kellie Harris Hopkins, director of the Beaufort County Board of Elections.

Voters are casting ballots for the U.S. House of Representatives 3rd Congressional District seat previously held by Walter B. Jones Jr., who died in February. Those seeking the seat Jones held for 24 years are Constitution Party candidate Greg Holt, Democrat Allen Thomas, Libertarian Tim Harris and Republican Dr. Greg Murphy. The 3rd Congressional District encompasses Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Greene, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt and Tyrrell counties. Of those, only Greene, Pamlico and Pitt counties turned out a larger percentage of voters last week than in Beaufort County.

As of Friday, more Beaufort County women had voted than men (392 to 370) and more Republicans had voted than Democrats or unaffiliated voters (322, 237 and 211, respectively).

The BOE in Washington is open for One Stop voting from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays through Sept. 6, with the exception of Sept. 2 — the office will be closed that day in observation of Labor Day.

Voters also will be able to cast their ballots at satellite One Stop sites in Aurora and Belhaven 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., from Sept. 4 through Sept. 6. The Chocowinity site will not open for One Stop voting this election.

Hopkins said she believes the number of people voting will pick up as Election Day approaches.

“We’ve also got the satellite sites open the last three days so that will make a difference,” Hopkins said.

The general election will be held Sept. 10.