North Carolina's new early voting initiative has been heralded by local election boards and Democrats as a way to increase voter turnout, but some Republicans fear the program fails to comply with federal election laws and could lead to voter fraud.
The new system allows North Carolina voters to cast their ballots up to three weeks before the traditional Election Day, which is the first Tuesday in November.
"We still have concerns about early voting because of the manner in which voter registration records are kept in North Carolina," said Dan Gurley, political director for the state Republican Party, adding that a lack of a centralized, state-wide database of voter registrations creates new opportunities for voter fraud.
"I could be registered in five counties and I could start driving at eight in the morning and vote in all of them," he said, implying that the larger voting window allows people to vote more easily in multiple counties. "If a county doesn't do proper list maintenance, you have problems like you had in Durham County where there were more registered voters than people eligible to vote in the county."
Scott Falmlen, executive director of the state Democratic Party, believes the early voting system will be beneficial to the political process. "I think it's going fairly well," he said. "Anytime you can expand the opportunity for people to cast their votes it's a good thing."
Johnnie McLean, deputy director of the state board of elections, said that after a few minor problems on Oct. 16, the first day of early voting, the process has been orderly, without any hitches.
On the morning of Oct. 16, the staff at the Durham Board of Elections early voting site were unable to power up the voting tabulator and then gave two ballots the same number. McLean said the press and the political parties were notified and invited to watch officials open the lock box and correct the situation.
The other mishap in Durham County occurred at the Northern High School voting site, where the key to the vote tabulator did not fit.
"No voter was turned away... and by 9:20 [a.m.] they had all the problems taken care of in Durham," McLean said.
Republicans have also claimed that the early voting locations may have been placed in typically Democratic areas because Democrats control the state election board.
"In a lot of counties if you look around the state you'll see [early polling sites] have been selected to favor the Democratic demographics," said Gurley. However, he noted that the data he has collected shows about equal turnout from both Democrats and Republicans.
Polling stations are located at every county's board of elections office, which is generally in the county seat. In addition, other sites are often placed in libraries, which McLean said are distributed geographically.
"My information tells me that is not a valid concern," said McLean. "For what it's worth, it seems there are more voters coming to the county office than the other one-stop sites."
Durham County's sites are located at its board of elections office near the Durham Athletic Park, at Northern High School and at North Carolina Central University.
Two Guilford County voters, Marcus Kindley and Darl Flower, were so concerned about the new early voting system that they contracted Greensboro attorney Marshall Hurley to file a U.S. District Court suit against the state Oct. 13.
"It's the simplest law suit I've ever been involved in," said Hurley. "The United States Congress decided over 100 years ago that the election for president and Congress should be on the first Tuesday of each November. We're supposed to have one national election day, and North Carolina created many, many additional days."
Falmlen, on the other hand, does not think much of the suit. "I can only quote the judge, who said it is probably meritless," he said. "In fact, it is meritless. Early voting has happened all over the States for more than 20 years."
Hurley countered that litigation has targeted early voting programs in Tennessee and Texas. He also cited a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's election process that chose members of Congress in October.
Hurley's clients' main complaints are that there are not enough safeguards to prevent voter fraud and that the state government is ignoring federal law.
In court last Friday, the judge said he thought citizens were not allowed to file suit against the state, but gave Hurley until Oct. 23 to persuade him otherwise. The judge has not yet responded to Hurley's arguments.
Meanwhile, many voters who have taken advantage of the early voting opportunity said they appreciated the new system.
"I think it's great," said Chris Ferguson, who voted yesterday at the Durham County Board of Elections site. "I knew [voting early] wouldn't take long and I didn't know what I'd be doing on the seventh of November-if I got in a wreck or something, I knew I'd be able to vote."
Edwin Bryson, Trinity '58, also voted yesterday. He said he was not worried about any developments in the campaign that might happen between now and the election. "I've made up my mind," he said.
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