Well before the polls opened the doors Tuesday morning, Mooresville’s Bruce Bastedo was in line to vote at the Lake Norman Volunteer Fire Department.
“I’ve always come on Election Day,” Bastedo said. “Never been an early voter.”
Bastedo was joined by roughly 30 people in line in Iredell County’s Davidson 1-B precinct to cast their ballots before sunrise in Mooresville, but due to the early voting numbers, many polling places are expecting a manageable turnout Tuesday.
According to rough estimates given to the chief judges of the Mooresville precincts, at least for the four locations in west Mooresville where nearly a quarter of Iredell County’s registered voters reside, can expect to see no more than about 3,000 voters on Election Day.
But for at least one of the voters in line at the Lake Norman VFD, it was the first election they were able to vote in.
People are also reading…
“It was awesome, that was so cool,” Sara Pross said. “It meant a lot that my voice matters. I think my generation has a lot to offer, so it was cool that this was the first election I got to vote in.”
The chief judge for Davidson 1-B at the Lake Norman VFD, Barbara Caucy said around 8,000 of her precinct's 10,336 registered voters made it out to early voting, or roughly 77.4 percent of the precinct.
“This turnout has only happened twice before here,” Caucy said. “In 2004 and 2008.”
The story was the same for Iredell County’s largest precinct, Davidson 1-A, which totals 10,473 registered voters. The line spanned a 100-foot hallway and out the front door of Rocky Mount United Methodist Church on Perth Road when polls opened at 6:30 a.m.
“Over 7,000 of the voters in our precinct have already voted,” Richard Stutts, chief judge of Davidson 1-A, said. “I would expect at least 2,000 (voters) today, which would put us at 90 percent turnout ― which has never, ever happened … and I’ve been doing this since the first Mr. Bush (1988) was elected.”
In the last presidential election, only 5,514 people voted in Stutts’ precinct, meaning that he had already surpassed his turnout from 2016 before the first vote was cast Tuesday morning. The same was also true for Caucy and the Davidson 1-B precinct. In 2016, only 6,987 votes were tallied during the entire election.
As for the other two precincts in western Mooresville, Davidson 2-A and Coddle Creek 4, located at Williamson's Chapel United Methodist and Peninsula Baptist respectively, saw much shorter lines when polls opened. However, that was to be expected as both of those precincts are much smaller in size compared to Davidson 1-A and 1-B.
“There were probably about 15 people standing here waiting (when we opened),” Allen Sipes, chief judge of Davidson 2-A, said.
Stutts was not anticipating lines at his location outside of the usual rush times of opening and the late afternoon. Sipes did, however, set up a station for those wanting some form of a sticker in this year’s election.
Just before the exit, he set up a poster with an “I voted” sticker for voters to take a picture with as they left. This is due to the state’s decision to not provide stickers this year and instead give out pens to each voter marking their participation in the 2020 Election.
“We’ve had some disappointment (about the lack of stickers),” Sipes said. “Everybody looks forward to the sticker. But it’s one of those things that they made the decision because not giving out a sticker is one less transmission.”
Across town, the heavy early voting numbers seemed to have been a factor in the short lines at the War Memorial and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.
An initial long line at 6:30 a.m. was what could be seen at the War Memorial, said Tom Fyler with the Iredell GOP, along with several poll workers, but during the remainder of the morning, it was a slow but steady crowd that came to cast their ballots. Everyone asked was happy with the short lines.
“Awesome” said Anna McAllister, when asked about not having to wait, and Lisa Woodward noted it was “perfection.”
“It was a pleasant surprise, in and out” said Vanessa Torres.
And Michael Nemet said that he was “surprised there was not a line.”
With the options of early voting, the main reason that voters gave for waiting until the actual Election Day to come out and vote was tradition.
Kirk Ballard gave this as his reason for waiting. “It is fun,” he said.
That answer was echoed by Lisa Woodward and Nemet who said that he is a “traditionalist and preferred what I vote for I do myself.”
Other reasons ranged from Torres noting that her schedule did not allow it, and Rodney McAllister said he wanted to “make sure his vote counted.”
Kyna Reid said she didn’t have a specific reason other than thinking it would be calmer, which she said happened last year as well.
No matter what date they voted on, each shared various reasons for why it is important to get out and vote.
Ballard said “it’s part of our responsibility being an American citizen. For one day (the politicians) get to hear what we think.”
The need for change is the reason, Reid said.
“We have to share our voice,” said Torres. “We all have an opinion and we need to make sure all voices are heard. It shows a good example for our future generations.”
We need to “stand up for what we believe in,” said Barry Spencer.
Rodney McAllister noted we need to get out and vote “because of proper morals for America” and his wife Anna added that it is “a privilege, which some other countries don’t have.”
Nemet noted that like his dad had said times before, that there are “too many who died to do what we can in American. We need to do our God-given right.”