ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Early voting began yesterday, Thursday, Oct. 17 in Buncombe County. If votes were worms, many early birds were out to cast them.
Although Hurricane Helene impacted the number of voting sites and altered a few locations, voters were undeterred.
Read our breakdown of which voting sites were impacted here.
Around 3:30 p.m. at West Asheville Library, voters stood in a line stretching out the door and far down the building’s long sidewalk. The line was moving quickly, too: voters just outside the door reported that they had only been standing there for around a half hour.
The same was true of Virginia Duquet, a volunteer with the Buncombe County Democratic Party.
Duquet, an elementary school music teacher, had only been working her volunteer shift for 20 minutes but had witnessed a number of voters come through already.
“This is the latest bit, so you can estimate,” Duquet said, gesturing to the long line. “But people told me it was longer earlier in the day.”
An important issue to the Buncombe Dems this election is with the North Carolina Constitution.
“We are asking people to vote no on the North Carolina Constitutional amendment,” Duquet said. “Our constitution right now uses the words ‘naturalized citizens can vote,’ and they’re taking that word ‘naturalized’ out of there.”
Duquet explained the issue to a voter and gave her a Democratic ballot. According to Duquet, the change in wording could threaten naturalized citizens’ ability to vote in North Carolina.
“So if you could vote no, that would be great,” Duquet said.
Another political group with a presence at the voting site was environmental advocacy organization the Sierra Club.
Dr. Bob Cane, a former professor of engineering at Texas A&M University, has long been a volunteer for the Sierra Club. He was driven to join after returning to his native North Carolina over a decade ago.
“I moved back in retirement 10-and-a-half years ago to a state that had been very progressive and respected the environment,” Lane said. “I came back to a mess.”
The Sierra Club aligned with candidates that made environmentalism part of their platform, which Lane respected. Lane had practical reasons for advocating for the environment, too.
“A lot of our state economy is based on tourism and we need that,” Lane said. “Seeing environmental messes, I know what they can do to our health. In fact, I worked on environmental problems in the petroleum industry. I just didn’t want to see that happening here.”
Despite bringing the Sierra Club presence to the voting site, Lane didn’t feel that he was swaying any undecided voters.
“They usually want to take our endorsement card or not,” Lane said. “It’s pretty much that simple. I am seeing a lot more people saying ‘Oh yeah, the environment, that’s really critical.’ Especially with what’s been going on around here.”
In the mere hour that he had been standing outside the library, Lane estimated 50 people had stopped by.
“Or more. I haven’t been counting, but I’m guessing that,” Lane said.
Other political factions were not present outside the West Asheville location yesterday afternoon, but Duquet and Lane both said a mix of political attitudes had come through.
According to state election officials, yesterday had a high turn-out across the state.
“This may actually be our best early voting day ever or at least for the opening day,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the N.C. Board of Elections, in a press conference yesterday, Oct. 17.
Voters of every political affiliation can vote early through Nov. 2. Election Day is Nov. 5.
The 10 early voting locations in Buncombe County are:
- Black Mountain Library, 105 N. Dougherty St., Black Mountain
- East Asheville Library, 3 Avon Rd., Asheville
- Enka-Candler Library, 1404 Sand Hill Rd., Candler
- Fairview Library, 1 Taylor Rd., Fairview
- Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Hwy., Leicester
- South Buncombe Library, 260 Overlook Rd., Asheville
- UNCA Health & Counseling Center, 118 W.T. Weaver Blvd., Asheville
- Weaverville Community Center, 60 Lakeshore Dr., Weaverville
- Dr. Wesley Grant Southside Center, 285 Livingston St., Asheville
- West Asheville Library, 942 Haywood Rd., Asheville
For more information on early voting, visit the Buncombe County Election Services website.