LUMBERTON — If you’ve envied your friends’ “I voted” stickers since Oct. 20, today is your last chance to earn your own badge.
Polls open are open throughout Robeson County today until 7:30 p.m — and those standing in lined at 7:30 p.m. will be able to vote, the state Board of Elections advises.
During the 17-day early voting period, which ended Saturday, 17,643 people in Robeson County submitted absentee or one-stop ballots, according to the state Board of Elections.
So far, voter turnout hasn’t taken the hit some expected in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. In 2012, 42,496 Robeson voters made their pick for president, including 17,189 who voted early.
There are 50,620 registered Democrats in Robeson County, 9,478 registered Republicans, 175 Libertarians and 15,389 unaffiliated voters for a total of 75,662 registered voters.
Statewide, voter turnout is at an all-time high.
By Saturday afternoon, 2.9 million North Carolinians — 44 percent of all the state’s registered voters — had cast ballots. That is a 13.4 percent increase over the entire 2012 early voting period, the state Board of Elections reported.
“We are proud of the highest early voting turnout in the state’s history,” said Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the state Board of Elections. “Statewide, North Carolina had more early voting hours and more sites than ever before.”
Today, Robeson County voters can visit one of 39 polling places, depending on where they live. To find out where you should vote, visit vt.ncsbe.gov/pollingplace_search.
Two polling places have been moved because of storm-related damage and a third, Bill Sapp Recreation Center, was relocated because that building is still being used as an emergency shelter.
The Precinct 17 polling place, West Lumberton Hut on Buchanan Street, will be moved about one mile to the O.P. Owens Agriculture Building at 455 Caton Road. The Precinct 16 site, South Lumberton Resource Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, will be moved about one mile to Lumberton Fire Department No. 3, 801 Dunn Road. The Bill Sapp site will be moved three blocks to Pine Street Senior Center, 801 N. Pine St.
There are 14 different ballots in Robeson, depending on where you live. You can search for your registration and see your sample ballot at vt.ncsbe.gov/voter_search_public. Voters will not be required to present a photo ID in order to vote.
Federal monitors will be checking in on Election Day in Robeson County, as well as Cumberland, Wake and Forsyth counties. The state Board of Elections, in alerting county boards to the presence of U.S. Justice Department representatives, did not give a reason for their visit or specify which polling sites they would review.
At the top of all Robeson tickets will be the presidential race — which recent polls promise will be a close one in North Carolina. In the March primary, Donald Trump won 50.86 percent of Robeson Republicans’ votes, while Hillary Clinton won 50.98 percent of votes cast by Robeson Democrats. It’s the first presidential race since straight-ticket voting was eliminated in North Carolina.
Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, and challenger Roy Cooper, a Democrat and the state’s attorney general, are separated by razor thin majors in the gubernatorial race.
Incumbent District 5 Commissioner Raymond Cummings will face challenger Lynn Locklear in his bid for re-election. Cummings, a Democrat, has served as a commissioner for 20 years. Locklear, a Republican, is seeking his first elected office and hopes to become the Board of Commissioners’ second Republican member.
Incumbent Commissioners Jerry Stephens in District 1, Tom Taylor in District 7 and Roger Oxendine in District 3 are unopposed.
Robeson voters will also have a choice for the District 13 Senate seat, where incumbent Jane Smith is facing Lumberton attorney Danny Britt. Smith, a Democrat, has served one term in the Senate. Britt is a Republican.
Three candidates are vying for the North Carolina House District 46 seat vacated by Ken Waddell. District 46 includes parts of Eastern Robeson County. The candidates are Republican Brenden Jones, Democrat Tim Benton and Libertarian Thomas Howell.
Rep. Charles Graham and Rep. Garland Pierce are unopposed in their bids for re-election to the House District 47 and District 48 seats, respectively, and Ken Goodman is unopposed in District 66. All are Democrats.
Republicans currently control 75 of the 120 seats in the House and 34 of the 50 Senate seats, the Associated Press reports.
Voters in Robeson County will also pick who they want to represent the Congressional 9th District they are now a part of following re-districting earlier this year. Republican Robert Pittenger, who currently holds that seat, will go up against Democrat and businessman Christian Cano.
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, is in a tight race for a third term in the Senate against Democrat Deborah Ross.
