829 ballots cast so far

COLUMBUS — Polk County residents have just Friday and Saturday to vote early for the 2018 Primary Election.

Residents can only register while early voting, which will end at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Polk County Board of Elections Office. For voters already registered, it is too late to change party affiliation for the primary.

As of noon Wednesday, 829 ballots had been cast early, with 11 of those being by mail and 818 voting at the board of elections office.

Of the ballots, 469 have been on the Democrat ticket and 360 on the Republican ticket.

For the primary, registered Democrats and Republicans must vote on their respective tickets. Registered unaffiliated voters must choose either the Democrat or Republican ticket. Registered Libertarians will not be able to vote during the primary, as there are no races.

So far, 295 unaffiliated voters have cast votes early, with 174 of those choosing the Democrat ballot and 121 choosing the Republican ballot, according to Polk County Board of Elections Director Cliff Marr.

Polk County residents will decide a district attorney during the primary, as there are no Democrat challengers for the November election, and will narrow the Polk County Sheriff race to one Democrat and one Republican.

Sheriff candidates include B.J. Bayne (D), Ronnie Smith (D), Darryl Bailey (R) and Tim Wright (R). The winners of the primary will face off for the office in the November election. Incumbent Polk County Sheriff Donald Hill did not seek re-election this year.

Other primary races include the North Carolina Senate District 47 Democrat candidates Christopher H. Rumfelt, Cheryl D. Swofford and David Wheeler; Republican candidates for United States House of Representatives District 10 Jeff Gregory, Patrick McHenry, Ira Roberts, Albert Lee Wiley Jr., Seth Blankenship and Gina Collias; and District Attorney for District 42 candidates Mary Ann J. Hollocker and Greg Newman.

Voting can be done from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday at the board of elections office, located on the second floor of the Womack building in Columbus.

Early voting is being done by paper ballot, as the state has mandated all voting go to paper ballot by the 2019 municipal election. Paper ballots will not be used on Primary Election Day, which is from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Paper ballots will also not be used during the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Marr said the paper ballot testing has been going extremely well during early voting this year.

“We have not experienced any issues with the DS-200 optical scan system,” Marr said. “The testing has helped us understand many of the changes we need to make in training and logistics. We have a competent and dedicated team of poll workers in Polk County and I foresee a smooth transition to the optical scan system in 2019.”

Polk County currently has 15,909 registered voters.

As of mid-day Wednesday, 5.2 percent of Polk’s registered voters had turned out for the primary.

Polk County’s last non-presidential primary election was in 2014, where 14.4 percent of registered voters turned out, including for early voting and primary election day. There were 2,212 who voted in Polk County for the 2014 primary election.

The last primary election in Polk County was in 2016, where, including early voting and primary day, Polk County had a 38.52 percent voter turnout. The 2016 primary included presidential candidates, which was one of the highest primary turnouts in Polk County history. The 2012 primary election saw a 36.06 voter turnout in Polk County, which was also a presidential election year.

There are 5,887 registered unaffiliated voters, 5,557 registered Republican voters, 4,385 registered Democrat voters and 80 registered Libertarian voters in Polk County.

Tryon has the largest number of registered voters at 3,137, with 1,182 registered as unaffiliated, 1,058 registered as Democrat, 883 registered as Republican and 14 registered as Libertarian.

Green Creek has the second highest number of registered voters at 2,699, with 1,014 registered as Republican, 894 registered as unaffiliated, 782 registered as Democrat and nine registered as Libertarian.

Columbus 2 has the third highest number of registered voters at 2,647, with 1,042 registered as Republican, 987 registered as unaffiliated, 606 registered as Democrat and 12 registered as Libertarian.

Columbus 1 has the fourth highest number of registered voters at 2,413, with 940 registered as unaffiliated, 769 registered as Republican, 692 registered as Democrat and 12 registered as Libertarian.

White Oak has the fifth highest number of registered voters at 1,859, with 657 registered as unaffiliated, 611 registered as Republican, 578 registered as Democrat and 13 registered as Libertarian.

Saluda has the sixth highest number of registered voters at 1,581, with 621 registered as unaffiliated, 575 registered as Republican, 378 registered as Democrat and seven registered as Libertarian.

Coopers Gap has the least registered voters of Polk County’s seven precincts at 1,569, with 662 registered as Republican, 605 registered as unaffiliated, 289 registered as Democrat and 13 registered as Libertarian.