Macon County elections officials are reporting a huge surge in requests for absentee ballots for the November election.
The Macon County Elections office had received 1,484 absentee ballots as of Aug. 20, compared to 935 for the entire 2016 election cycle. Those requests include 660 Democrats, 454 Republicans and 368 unaffiliated voters.
Through Aug. 20, the state had received 333,553 requests for absentee ballots, more than 10 times the requests at the same time in the 2016 election cycle. Requests break down this way: Democrats, 177,454; Republicans, 51,018; and Unaffiliated, 104,018.
The number of requests shows no sign of slowing down, according to Gary Tallent, deputy director of the Macon County Board of Elections.
“We probably got another 400-500 today (Aug. 24),” he said. “It’s all we can do to keep up with that. And we’re getting phone calls every two or three minutes.”
“COVID is, of course, the big reason for so many people requesting absentee ballots,” Tallent said. “They don’t want to go out in person and vote. I don’t blame them, especially elderly people.”
The elections office has hired a temporary employee to help process the ballot requests and may need to hire another, Tallent said.
Some county residents may have received three unsolicited absentee ballot request forms, from both parties and from the nonprofit Center for Voter Information in Raleigh.
“There’s a lot of confusion,” Tallent said, adding that the unsolicited forms are legitimate.
Absentee ballots will be mailed to voters beginning Sept. 4.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Tallent said. “Hopefully the postal service can handle it. That’s not just for Macon; it’s every county.”
The deadline to request an absentee balance is Oct. 27, but state election officials recommend requests be made no later than Oct. 17.
GETTING READY FOR NOVEMBER
While voting places were consolidated for the primary elections, current plans call for all 15 precincts to be open on Election Day. There will be two early-voting sites, at the Robert C. Carpenter Community Building in Franklin and the Highlands Civic Center in Highlands.
One of the concerns from the primaries was the availability of precinct officials and workers. That doesn’t look to be an issue for the November election.
“That’s going better this time than back in June,” he said. “Lots of people who refused to work then said they will for the election. We think it’s going to be OK. We’re actually getting calls from people wanting to come in and work, and that never happens.”
Election dates
Oct. 9 – regular voter registration deadline
Oct. 15 – one-stop early voting period
Oct. 27 – last day to request an absentee ballot by mail