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In the western portion of the state, 59% of registered voters voted before Election Day -- that's higher than the statewide turnout of 57% of registered voters.

'Heartwarming': Western NC sees record voter turnout despite Helene changes 

Good morning. I'm Coren Duncan. Director of Elections for Buncombe County. Early voting has ended in record turnout with just over 100 and 16,000 voters casting their ballot that surpasses 2020 early voting numbers which were a record in themselves by 10,000 voters. When you add an absentee by mail return. So far, we're already at almost 50% turnout. 58% turnout in Buncombe County. I'm in awe that even amid this storm recovery as we grieve, what we won't get back. And as we gather ourselves to make a plan to move forward, that voting remains a priority. And this is the case across the mountains, you are showing up even when it's difficult. You're giving Western North Carolina a voice. Tomorrow is election day for the 2024 presidential election. My office has been preparing for this day for more than a year, staff board members, poll workers and so many others have put in countless hours while suffering the hurricane alongside you remember we're voters too to make sure that this day provides you with both convenient and lawful voting. So tip your hat to poll workers when you vote tomorrow. You might know some of them. They're your neighbors and your friends. Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Election day can be busy and I hope it is. As long as you're in line by 730 you'll be able to vote. You'll need to bring your photo ID, go to your assigned voting location. And if you don't know where that is, call us, visit our website or stop by our office and we'll assist you. If you don't have a photo ID, when we know many were lost in the storm, you can vote provisionally and we'll give you your options to make that count. Remember due to storm damage or use for emergency operations. 17 of our 80 early voting locations have temporarily changed. They're either combined with a nearby location or are a new location. Last Monday, we sent cards to those of you with changes. So you should have one. If you're in this group, you can also find a list of changes on our website. And as always, you can call us or visit our or stop by and see us for help. We did make one error in our mailing for voters in precinct 66.1. Your temporary voting location is at Warren Wilson College. That's the Kittridge Theater that's at 124 Lower College Road. Your mailer has the correct place name, but we got the address wrong. Most of you have already voted, but we still apologize for making this error even with so much last minute change. Our goal is perfection. Please note that for all voters with location changes. If you happen to show up at your old precinct, there'll be a sign telling you where your new location is. If you're an absentee by mail voter, you need to return your ballot by election day. That's tomorrow, November 5th at 7:30 p.m. Unless you overnight it, it's too late to put it in the mail. So bring it by our office at 59 Woodson Place in Asheville. A near relative is also allowed to do this for you. But remember do not bring it to an election day, polling location. The law switched on on that and that and, and the law does not, the law no longer allows for this. However, you can choose to vote in person instead if you would like and your absentee ballot will automatically be voided. We wanna make sure that you have everything you need to vote tomorrow. So you need to be registered. You need to bring your photo ID and you need to go to the location that's assigned to you. An excellent way to find all kinds of voter information is to use the North Carolina voter search tool. You can find that at Buncombe county.org/vote through that tool among other things, you can check that you're registered, you can look up your voting location and you can find your sample ballot. Your sample ballot helps you research the candidates on your specific ballot and you're welcome to bring it with you to the polling location to help you vote faster. We look forward to seeing you out all across the mountains tomorrow as a reminder on election night, preliminary results will be released on our website beginning at 730. We'll start by posting the absentee by mail results. Next, you'll see early voting numbers populate and this might take an hour or two because we have to start those at 730. We're, we can't preprocess those. Uh and then you'll start seeing results from election day populate as they come in from the precincts. We estimate that all three of these categories which will be the vast majority of results will be in by 10 or 11 p.m. Again, remember that these results are preliminary after election day. We process any of the absentee by mail ballots that we receive on election day and any provisional ballots. We also audit during this period. Once all of this is complete, our board will come together on November 15th. They'll review the audit and they'll publicly certify the election. This is what makes Buncombe County's votes official. These official results will then be submitted to the state board of elections to be combined with the rest of North Carolina. So that's it for today. As always, if you have any questions reach out to us We are election services at 59 Woodston Place in Asheville. Our phone number is 828250 4200. You can email us at elections at Buncombe county.org and our website with all the information you need is Buncombe county.org/vote. So thank you. See you at the polls. Happy voting.

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Nearly 59% of voters in western NC cast ballots early

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