Early voting in presidential election starts Thursday
Published 12:10 am Sunday, October 16, 2016
By Josh Bergeron
josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Absentee voting is underway and in-person, early voting for November’s general election starts Thursday.
Polls in Rowan County open at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The only open location on Thursday will be the Rowan County Board of Elections office at West End Plaza — 1935 Jake Alexander Blvd West, Suite D10. At West End Plaza, the Board of Elections office is adjacent to Badcock Furniture.
The first day of early voting ends at 6:30 p.m.
The Board of Elections office will continue to be the only early voting site on Oct. 21, 24, 25, and 26. Hours during the first days of early voting will be from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Polls in Rowan County will not be open on Oct. 22 or 23 for early voting.
Additional early voting locations will be open starting Oct. 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The additional polling locations include the Rowan Public Library Headquarters, Cleveland Town Hall, Spencer Municipal Building, Rockwell American Legion Building and Rowan Public Library South Rowan Regional Branch.
From Oct. 27 to Nov. 5, all of Rowan County’s early voting locations will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays.
On Oct. 29, all voting sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In total, Rowan County voters will have more hours to cast ballots during in-person, early voting this year than 2012 — the prior presidential election. There are roughly 100 more early voting hours in 2016, according to the State Board of Elections.
The final day to cast a ballot during in-person, early voting will be Saturday, Nov. 5 — when only the Board of Elections office will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
During the early voting period, absentee ballots can also be submitted. However, absentee request forms must be received by the Rowan County Board of Elections before 5 p.m. on Nov. 1.
So far, more than 2,100 people have requested Rowan County absentee ballots. A total of 545 absentee ballots have been accepted, according to State Board of Elections data.
Election day is Nov. 8
For election-related questions, contact the Rowan County Board of Elections at 704-216-8140.
Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.
