A recent court ruling affecting same-day registration verification is one of many new parts of the 2024 elections, starting with the primary in March.
The voter registration deadline for the primary is this Friday, Feb. 9, by 5 p.m., with one-stop voting starting on Thursday, Feb. 15.
Macon County Board of Elections Director Melanie Thibault said on Feb. 1 there have been less than 100 absentee ballot requests, not as many as she expected.
“I think a lot of people are more interested in [absentee] voting in November,” Thibault said.
On the opposite end, Thibault said the office has been busy with changing voter registrations, such as updating addresses and party affiliations.
“I encourage voters who want to change party affiliation to go ahead and do it,” Thibault said. “We’ve been pretty busy with that.”
Registered voters can’t change their party affiliation after Feb. 9 for the primary election.
In the last general election primary in 2020, 9,636 Macon County citizens voted. Thibault feels like the turnout for the 2024 Primary will be at around that level or a little bit higher.
Same day registration
Last October, the N.C. General Assembly, with a Republican supermajority, passed a new voting law with several changes. One of those changes was that officials could remove a same-day-registration ballot if the mail confirmation was undeliverable. Previously, the law required two undeliverable notices to disqualify a ballot.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. District Court ruled it was unconstitutional to disqualify a same-day registrant’s ballot without informing the voter of the problem and giving them another chance to verify their address.
On Tuesday, Jan. 30, the NCSBE sent county offices an updated memorandum explaining how to conduct same-day registration in compliance with the recent federal ruling.
The NCSBE instructed election workers to examine if a same-day registration application has the same address as the ID. If not, election workers should contact the same-day registrant by mail, email and phone to allow them to submit correct information or appeal in person before the final count.
The ballot
In a primary, a person registered with a political party can only vote on that party’s ballot. Unaffiliated voters in Macon County can choose between a Libertarian, Democratic or Republican ballot. There are no Macon County ballots for the Green, Constitution or No Labels parties as they do not have local or state primaries.
Absentee voting by mail started Jan. 19. Absentee ballots must be received by the county elections office by 7:30 p.m. on Primary Election Day - Tuesday, March 5. Previously, absentee ballots had to be postmarked by Election Day.
Citizens can request absentee ballots at votebymail.ncsbe.gov and by clicking one of the options.
Only competitive races, except for U.S. President, are on the primary ballot. The top vote-getters from each race will move on to November’s General Election.
The only competitive local races are on the Republican ballot for the Macon County Board of Commissioners. For the District Two seat, Chris Browning challenges incumbent Josh Young. The District Three seat has Barry Breeden challenging incumbent Paul Higdon.
For the N.C. District Court Judge District 43 Seat 7, Virginia Hornsby of Franklin faces off with Sylva’s Andy Buckner. All three of those races don’t have any other filers, so the three winners will be unopposed in November’s General Election.
All races on the Macon County ballot this primary have a maximum of one vote allowed per race. In the case of the U.S. President, a voter had the option of filling in “No Preference.”
Most of the races on the primary ballot are for statewide seats, such as governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, N.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals seats and more.
Photo ID required
This is the first general election in North Carolina that will require a voter to show a photo ID when voting. Voter ID was in place for the 2023 municipal elections, but only 522 Macon County citizens voted in that election (98 in Franklin, 424 in Highlands).
Most voters will show their driver’s license to vote. Other acceptable photo IDs are a U.S. Passport, state government ID or approved college or university student IDs. Photo IDs from all 16 UNC System universities, including Western Carolina, are acceptable for students and staff. Southwestern Community College photo IDs are not on the accepted list.
To see the whole list of what photo IDs are allowed, visit www.ncsbe.gov/voting/voter-id and click “2024 Primary: Acceptable Forms of Photo ID.”
Voters 65 years or older may use an expired ID if it was unexpired on their 65th birthday.
For those without a driver’s license or other acceptable photo ID, each county’s board of elections office and the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles offers free ID cards.
Voters without a photo ID can vote by filling out an ID Exception Form or fill out a provisional ballot and return with a photo ID before canvass on Friday, March 15, at 11 a.m. Absentee-by-mail voters must include a copy of their photo ID with their ballot return envelope or fill out an ID Exception Form.
For more information about the primary election, voting or Voter ID requirements, call the Macon County Board of Elections at 828-349-2034. Thibault encourages those who need a free photo ID for the election to stop by their office on the first floor of the Macon County Courthouse.
Early voting
Early voting in Macon County will take place at two sites: the Carpenter Community Building (1288 Georgia Rd.) in Franklin and the Highlands Civic Center (600 N. 4th St.). Early voting starts Thursday, Feb. 15. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday – Saturday, except Saturday, March 2 when hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 2 is the last day of early voting.
Primary Election Day is Tuesday, March 5, with polls open from 6:30 a.m. through 7:30 p.m.
Voting equipment
This will also be the first General Election year with the HART Verity Touch Writer equipment. Macon County election officials lauded the new voting machines after the 2023 municipal elections for the speed at which they processed ballots.
“We love the equipment, our polling officials love it,” Thibault said of the HART system. “Voters will be amazed at how fast and easy it will be.”
Thibault said the ballots with the HART system are no different than before and they save the county money since they print out their own ballots.