Friday is deadline for registering to vote in November election

Friday is the last day to register to vote on Nov. 4 and the rush is on at Craven County Board of Elections office.

A steady stream of people looking to register or make changes to their registration has flowed into the office in Craven County Administration Building all week, officials said. And the phone rings almost continuously.

People who miss Friday's deadline to register can still vote if they are otherwise eligible. They can register and vote at the same time during early One Stop voting between Oct. 16 and Nov. 1 at five locations in Craven.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 66,470 registered voters in Craven County on the books; 28,307 Democrats, 22,905 Republicans; nine Libertarians; and 15,249 unaffiliated.

Four boxes with as many as 1,500 registration forms are in the elections office awaiting entry into the voter registration system. And party campaign workers are bringing in stacks of new voter registration forms nearly every day.

Temporary elections employees are working along with the three-person Craven County elections staff to make sure everyone who wants to vote can do so.

Colin Redhead, 28, of Havelock, came in Thursday to register to vote for the first time.

A Marine, Redhead lived in Maryland before being stationed at Cherry Point and is a naturalized citizen originally from Trinidad.

"It's nice to know who you are working for, especially being in the military," Redhead said.

It will not be the first time Amy Dawson, 31, of Cove City has voted but she has moved. She came into the elections office on Thursday with baby Savannah - one of her four children - in her arms to be sure her registration information was correct and current.

"I feel like this is an important election and I need to vote for my children," Dawson said.

She can do that on Election Day at her regular polling place or earlier at any of the One Stop voting sites from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday from Oct. 16 to 31 and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1.

The One Stop locations are Craven County Administration Building, 406 Craven Street, New Bern; West Craven High School Performing Arts Center, 2600 Streets Ferry Road, Vanceboro; Havelock-Craven County Public Library, 301 Cunningham Boulevard, Havelock; Grantham Fire Department, 1709 Old Cherry Point Road, New Bern; or Cove City Fire Department, 425 South Main Street, Cove City.

Those registering and voting at One Stop need photo identification with a Craven County residence address. If they do not have that, they can cast a provisional ballot but must take the appropriate identification into the Board of Elections office by Nov. 1.

A legal resident can request an absentee ballot from the elections office in writing by Oct. 28.

Craven County's ballot includes state and national candidates as well as unopposed district court judges, three unopposed county board of education members and the nonpartisan District 5 Board of Education race between incumbent Becky Kafer and challenger Joshua Pope.