By Catharin Shepard •
Staff writer •
This is the last week to vote during the one-stop early voting period for the upcoming partisan primary election.
Two polling sites are open this week and Saturday for voters to cast a ballot in the primary election. The primary election is set for Tuesday, March 3.
The voter turnout for the primary during the one-stop early voting has still been fairly slow, though some days have seen an increase, Elections Director Towanna Jackson said. As of Monday, 1,487 voters had cast ballots during the early voting period. That includes votes at both polling places.
The county is operating two sites as one-stop early voting locations. The Board of Elections Office, located at 227 North Main Street in the Pratt Building, and the Rockfish Community Center, located at 2749 Lindsay Road, are open for early voters.
The polling sites are open each day until Friday from 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Weekend voting will be available Saturday, February 29 from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. The partisan primary election is set for Tuesday, March 3. All of the county’s polling places will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on March 3.
Hoke County has more than 30,000 registered voters, including 13,779 registered Democrats, 9, 760 registered Unaffiliated, 6,402 registered Republicans, 225 registered Libertarians, 28 registered Constitution Party and seven registered Green Party voters.
Sample ballots for the Republican, Democratic, Constitution, Green and Libertarian political parties are available online at https://www.hokecounty.net/235/Elections. People who are registered as Unaffiliated may choose to vote on a Republican, Democratic or Libertarian Party ballot. The Constitution Party and Green Party only allow people registered as a member of those parties to vote on those ballots in the primary election.
Voters do not need to bring photo identification to vote in the one-stop early voting.
Voters will cast ballots in several local primary contests. In some cases, the primary election will likely decide the race, as only candidates from one party filed to seek office. In other races, the winners from the primary will go on to face candidates from another political party in the General Election in November.
Some of the local and state offices up for election this year include Hoke-Moore District Attorney, two seats on the Hoke County Board of Commissioners, Hoke County Register of Deeds, N.C. District Court Judge 19D Seat 4, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor, and North Carolina Governor. Filing for election to the Hoke County Board of Education and Soil and Water Conservation Board will open this summer, as those boards are nonpartisan.
For a full list of candidates, visit the North Carolina Board of Elections website at https://www.ncsbe.gov/index.html, or the Hoke County Board of Elections website at https://www.hokecounty.net/235/Elections. Call the Hoke County Board of Elections with questions on registering to vote or other election-related matters at (910) 875-9062.