Interest remains high as board gears up for the Nov. 2 election

As the election draws closer, voter interest seems to be continuing at a fevered pitch at Alleghany Board of Elections Office. The office is located at 53 West Whitehead St. (N.C. 18) at the intersection with Jones Street and is the only place in the county where early voting may be accomplished.

While One Stop voting is typically pitched as a convenience or as a way for voters to save time, it hasn’t necessarily been that way this year in Alleghany.

vLocal voters have sometimes flooded the office, which houses the three EasyVote 2000 touch-screen voting machines that have been dedicated to the task of early voting. At times, lines have formed as voters display their identifications and are checked off on the official voting logs. The influx of voters is near constant, a fact that can hardly escape the notice of anyone stopping by the office, said Director of Elections Karen K. Fender. She noted that nearly 1,100 people had cast votes by Tuesday evening at in one-stop voting.

“The number of people passing through here has been phenomenal,” she said.

One Stop voting will end on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. That is the only Saturday the local office will be open.

Voters who choose that option may be from any precinct, but must already have registered to vote prior to the deadline.

In addition, 271 people requested traditional paper absentee ballots by mail. Those must be returned to the office no later than Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. (They must be received by that date and time in the office, regardless of postmark).

Tuesday was the last day for those ballots to be mailed by the local elections office.

The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 2. For more information on voting, call the elections office at 372-4557. Polling Places

On election day, Tuesday, Nov. 2, polls open at 6:30 a.m. and will close at 7:30 p.m.

Polling places, listed with addresses by precinct, include the Emerson Black Building at 1375 U.S. 21 North for Gap Civil; the Whitehead Community Center at 5371 Spicer Mountain Rd. for Whitehead; the Cherry Lane Community Building at 8743 U.S. 21 South for Cherry Lane; the Laurel Springs Volunteer Fire Department on N.C. 18 South for Cranberry; the Piney Creek Volunteer Fire Department for Piney Creek; the New Hope Community Center for Prathers Creek; and the Glade Creek Community Building at 2532 Barrett Rd. in Ennice for Glade Creek.

On the Ballot

In addition to hotly-contested presidential race between John F. Kerry and George W. Bush (a Libertarian candidate, Michael Badnarik, is also on the ballot), several other races are also drawing interest.

Those include a race for U.S. Senate that is even closer than the presidential race. Republican Richard Burr gave up his 5th District Congressional seat to vie for the seat given up by Sen. John Edwards, who is seeking election with Sen. John Kerry on the Democratic ticket for president.

Burr is facing second-time challenger Democrat Erskine Bowles. Bowles, who served as Chief of Staff for former President Bill Clinton, was defeated by Elizabeth Dole in an earlier bid for a U.S. Senate seat. Polls have consistently shown the two men in a statistical dead heat in recent weeks.

Other races include a number of statewide races, as well as several local races this year that also are helping pique interest.

Four candidates each are running for two seats on the Alleghany County Commission and the Alleghany County Board of Education. Candidates for commission include Democrats Gary Mabe and Ken Richardson and Republicans Tom Douglas and incumbent J. Warren Taylor. Democrat Patrick Woodie did not seek re-election to the board. Meanwhile, Alleghany Board of Education candidates include Democrats Faron Atwood and Joel Souther and Republicans Roger Wood and incumbent Sonia W. Joines. Republican Steve Carpenter did not seek re-election.

Registration

Alleghany County has a total of 6,514 registered voters. Of those voters, 3,595 are Democrats, 2,063 are Republicans, six are Libertarians and 850 are unaffiliated.

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