Early voting begins Thursday, Oct. 20. Here’s what you need to know and some handy tools to help you at the polls
Above: An early voting sticker, a wonderful thing you’ll be able to get starting Thursday.
You don’t need ID — A federal court struck down the state’s former voting restrictions, restoring a week of early voting and doing away with the byzantine requirements that had (in some cases) gone into effect during this year’s primaries. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the 2013 was, bluntly, racially discriminatory, violating both the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, noting that its “provisions target African-Americans with almost surgical precision.”
So voting is back, mostly, to the system used in 2012, with 17 days of early voting and no need for an ID. In fact, on the back of voter registration forms now, you see this court-ordered change.
You can still register during early voting — The court ruling also returned same day registration during the early voting period. At any of the early voting sites you can, if you’re not registered already, sign up to vote and then cast your ballot.
Importantly, because plenty of Ashevillians move around a fair bit, you can also update your registration if you’ve moved since the last time you voted. This can be important for local issues, if you’ve recently moved into the city limits (allowing you to vote on the bond referendum question) or to a different county commissioner district (allowing you to vote in one of those races).
If you’re not registered yet, you’ll need to provide relevant identification (driver’s license, student ID or any ID from a government agency) or a piece of mail (a utility bill, bank statement, pay stub) showing your name and current address. If you’re already registered but just need to update your address, none of that documentation is required.
There are many early voting locations and you can vote at any of them — In North Carolina all local boards of elections have two members of the governor’s party and one from the opposition. Given that the aforementioned struck-down voting restrictions were strongly backed by the Republicans, some counties saw sharp divisions, with boards trying to limit early voting locations after the federal court ruling (though the state board later reversed some of those attempts). Buncombe was an exception, however. Here all members of the local board of election agreed with an expanded schedule, and the only major controversy or pushback from any members of the public was the lack of a location on the Warren Wilson College campus. Overall, locals will have more early voting hours than 2012.
Starting Thursday, Oct. 20, you’ll be able to vote at 16 locations around the county. On Oct. 27, that expands to 20 locations. On Sunday, Oct. 30 you can vote at eight libraries around the county. There’s a schedule here, as well as this handy page on Buncombe County’s elections website with more information about which specific sites are open when (just click the “early voting now open” link on any specific date).
If you’re voting during the early voting period, you can vote at any of these locations while they’re open. They don’t have to be the closest one to where you live, vote at the one that’s most convenient.
No one can stop you from voting — If you’re registered (or able to register during early voting) no one can stop you from voting. No one can, for example, demand your ID at the polling place door or try to intimidate you away from the polls. As a matter of fact, any of those actions are illegal under federal law and if someone tries, call the Department of Justice immediately. There’s also these national and N.C.-specific hotlines if you face trouble casting your vote.
There are some handy tools to help with voting — The Buncombe County Election Services website recently underwent a significant overhaul and is considerably improved. Currently it has more information on what sites are open what days. When early voting starts it will also have a tracker that shows you the waiting times at these locations so, if the schedule’s crunched, you can make your choice of the best spot to go.
Code for Asheville also recently produced a useful voter tool, quickly showing you your ballot complete with descriptions of many of the state offices and links to more information, including media coverage, of the various races (though the Blade‘s primarily focusing on the bond referendum and commissioners’ races).
There are some really important local races on the ballot – While the Presidential race is getting the monster’s share of the attention, there are a lot of other important races too, including at the local level.
WCQS recently provided some excellent reporting on a key statewide race, for an N.C. Supreme Court seat.
Ashevillians will decide the fate of three bond referendums totaling $74 million ($32 million for transportation infrastructure like sidewalks, $25 million for affordable housing and $17 million for parks and rec), intended to help blunt the city’s housing crisis and crumbling infrastructure. In August we had an in-depth story on the bonds and how the push for them emerged.
A majority of the seats on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, which has a considerable amount of power over development, taxes and more, are up for election. Voters throughout the county, including in Asheville, can vote in the chair’s race between District 1 Commissioner Brownie Newman, a Democrat, and Republican Chuck Archerd. In District 1 (the central part of the county, primarily the city of Asheville), Jasmine Beach-Ferrara is running un-opposed after winning the Democratic primary earlier this year. Voters in District 2, comprising the northern and eastern parts of the county, also have a seat up for election, with Republican incumbent Mike Fryar facing Democrat Nancy Nehls Nelson.
Voters in District 3, the southern and western parts of the county, have two seats up this time. In one, incumbent Commissioner Joe Belcher, a Republican, faces Democrat Ed Hay. In the other, to fill the unexpired term of Republican Commissioner Miranda DeBruhl (who resigned this summer), has Democrat David King (formerly a Republican commissioner from 2012-14) facing Republican Robert Pressley.
The candidates squared off at debates hosted by the Citizen-Times and the conservative Council of Independent Business Owners. Unfortunately, the Republican candidates for the commissioner races did not attend the round of YWCA/League of Women Voters forums.
As for the Blade, we’ve sent questions (many suggested by our readers) to all the commissioner and chair candidates, and plan to run their answers during the middle of the early voting period. When to time a voter guide is a tricky decision for all new organizations. More people than ever are using early voting, but if a guide runs too early, it can get lost in the ensuing weeks’ news. After a few elections, running it at the mid-point seems to work best.
In the meantime, our city, county, state and country all have better odds when more people show up to the polls. I hope to see y’all there.
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