Early voting in Charlotte, NC started this murky morning (10-15-20) at 8:00AM. It was foggy, which seemed appropriate for 2020. Early Voting here will end on Halloween.
We arrived at 7:25AM and landed 42nd in the line fronting Charlotte’s Community House Middle School.
By poll-opening time at 8:00AM, the socially-distanced line ran the length of the the building and snaked around the corner.
North Carolina’s, Mecklenburg County provided 33 locations for early voting. The crowd was masked, calm and determined to make their votes count.
The sun was attempting to burn away the mist when we reached the school’s entry at 8:30AM.
Voters entered one at a time. We were given our proof of voter registration form to sign and collect a ballot, then sent to center court to wait for a guide to take us to an open machine.
Every voter was handed a plastic-wrapped pen to sign their form and use the rubber nib on one end as a stylus to choose their candidates on a voting machine. A paper ballot was produced, which was inserted in the recording machine by the voter. There was no need to touch any surfaces with your hands and only five voters were inside the gym at any given time. It was very cool, very safe and very easy.
By 8:40AM we cast our votes and were headed home. When I’m asked who I voted for, my answer and advice is, “The candidate that lied the least in the last four years!”