Early voting is up 19 percent in Orange County this year

Orange County has seen a 19-percent increase in early voting turnout rates between the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.

According to Orange County’s early voting statistics, the current election drew just under 60,000 early voters to polling stations, an increase of 9,532 voters when compared to 2012.

Tracy Reams, the director of the Orange County Board of Elections, said she’s pleased by the high voter turnout. She thinks the larger numbers are due in part to people wanting to ensure their vote is cast.

“There hasn’t really been any changes in what we have done,” Reams said. “We do offer early voting hours late in the evening in addition to Saturday hours and I think these various hours made it more convenient for the voters.”

Orange County offered five early voting locations at heavily populated centers throughout the county.

“We did not experience lines in Orange County like those that were reported by other counties,” Reams said.

Graeme Strickland, a UNC first-year and member of Young Democrats, said the club pushed early voting by handing out sample ballots, placing flyers in dorm rooms and providing a rickshaw to the Chapel of the Cross.

According to the United States Census, the voting rate of adults aged 18-24 years old dropped to 38 percent in 2012. Strickland said they’ve increased efforts to get young voters to the polls.

“There’s a huge ground effort to get out and vote, especially among millennials,” Strickland said. “That’s been the main focus – to get out the millennial vote, because it’s always so low.”

UNC first-year Calissa Andersen voted for the first time during early voting at Chapel of the Cross.

“I voted early because I expected a lot of people to wait until the actual election day to vote, so I thought that voting early would be convenient to me and save time,” Andersen said. “My advice is definitely vote early and don’t wait and try and get to know all your candidates, even the local ones so that when you go into the ballot box you know which candidates support your ideals.”

Regardless of political party affiliation or preference, Strickland said it is important to vote.

“There are people that have literally sacrificed their lives for our right to vote and for our democracy and we don’t want that sacrifice to go to waste,” Strickland said. “This is an American value, having your voice heard. Even if you don’t like the candidates, politicians will still see this demographic voting and make legislation that will help us to move forward.”

On election day, Reams said she hopes the high voter turnout will continue.

“I’m hoping to get a minimum of 75 percent out there voting, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” Reams said. “If they haven’t already voted, we hope that the voters are going to come out and vote tomorrow.”

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