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Early voters stalled when Rams Head site runs out of Democratic ballots

Students who had planned Monday to vote early on the second floor of Rams Head Dining Hall were stalled after voting officials said they had to retrieve more Democratic ballots from their car.

Toward the end of the first day for early voting and registration, the D003 ballot — one of the Chapel Hill Democratic tickets — ran out at the on-campus precinct at around 4 p.m.

But there were mixed opinions about how long it took to retrieve more of the ballots.

James Weathers, chief judge of the voting precinct, said the ballots were missing for 10 minutes at most.

There were problems with parking, but the ballots were in the vicinity, he said.

“We had them out there in the car.

“We get our ballots from the district,” Weathers said. “We went and grabbed 500 of (every type of ballot).”

Students, however, said they experienced the lull differently.

“They said it would be about five minutes, but it ended up being 20 or 25 minutes,” said Eden Sipperly, a freshman environmental sciences major.

“I went in around 5 p.m., and there were around 20 people loitering,” she said.

Other students didn’t get the chance to vote at all, said a few N.C. Amendment One opponents.
“Some guy said he tried four times to go up there and vote,” said Ian O’Keefe, a campus organizer for the Coalition to Protect N.C. Families.

“They said about 50 people left,” he said. “People came out and told me that they didn’t have ballots available.”

Nonetheless, voter turnout remained high. And at around 5:30 p.m., more than 550 people had voted on the first day.

“We hope to do 500 people every day,” Weathers said, adding that he didn’t expect the turnout to be as large as it was.

O’Keefe said that students broke from the status quo by showing up at the polls.

“We made Orange County run out of ballots. They will be prepared,” O’Keefe said.

Many students said they came out to vote because of Amendment One, the proposed constitutional ban of gay marriage.

“I voted because I care about my friends and I care about my state,” said Jordan Imbrey, a sophomore communications major.

Contact the State & National Editor at state@dailytarheel.com.

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