East Carolinian

Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: News

Media Credit: staff photo

One Stop Early Voting begins today in North Carolina and voters across Pitt County will be able to cast their ballot at any of the six early voting sites.

Early voting allows any registered voter to cast their ballot in person prior to Election Day. Also, unregistered voters can register and vote on site in just one visit.

"Early voting is great because if you vote early and your registration didn't go through you can register there," said Ambyr Maxwell, an intern at the Obama headquarters in Greenville.

Early voting is also convenient because voters have freedom to choose when and where they vote and sites are typically less crowded.

According to the Pitt County Board of Elections, 103,664 of the 152,000 residents in Pitt County are registered to vote, with 18- 25 year olds accounting for 20,143 of that total. Approximately 5,002 of those 20,143 registered to vote after July 1 of this year.

Since January 1, nearly 16,000 new voters were registered in Pitt County, which is a significant increase from the 93,000, registered voters during the 2004 election, only 10,000 of which were registered after January 1.

"Everyone that has sent their registration will be registered to vote by the start of early voting," said David Davis, director of the Pitt County Board of Elections.

The Obama Campaign for Change in Greenville has also been hard at work registering voters.

Regionally, the campaign registered 17,000 voters, 4,000 of which were college students.

"We've been registering voters non-stop everyday," said Melissa Hege, of the Campaign for Change. "The only day we were not allowed to was Sept. 11 because the office was closed."

Of the six early voting sites in Pitt County, five are located in Greenville. The Agricultural Extension Building located at 403 Government Circle will open today and remain open until Nov. 1 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.- 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The Community Schools Building located at 4561 County Home Road will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 26 from 1 p.m.- 5 p.m. The Jaycee Park, Center for Arts and Crafts located at 2000 Cedar Lane will be open Monday through Friday 11 a.m.-7 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m.-1 p.m. The County Office Building located at 1717 W. 5th St. will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-5p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m.-1 p.m. For ECU students, the Newman Center, located beside the Brewster Building, will be open starting Oct. 24 Monday though Fridays 11 a.m.-7 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m.- 1 p.m.

All early voting sites will be open until Nov. 1.

Members of the Obama Campaign will be hosting a rally on Oct. 28 at the bottom of College Hill with performances by Blount Harvey and others. The crowd will then proceed to the early voting site.

Also, a march will be taking place today from Thomas Forman Park on fifth and Memorial to the County Office Building on Fifth Street at 9 a.m. The event is being held with the NAACP and commemorates the 13th anniversary of the Million Man March.



This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com

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