GASTON, N.C. — In Gaston County, thousands of voters wasted no time and headed out to cast their ballot on day one of early voting in North Carolina.
“I just wanted to get my vote in,” said voter Robin Sanders, who cast her ballot at the Gaston County Board of Elections Office, located on West Franklin Blvd in Gastonia.
“I’ve been here about 45 minutes, so not as bad as I thought it would be,” she said.
Gaston County Director of Elections Adam Ragan said the first and last day of early voting is always the busiest.
“I got to work about 5:45 this morning and there were 10 to 15 people in line and early voting didn’t start until 8,” Ragan said.
He said the morning saw a burst of voters, sometimes taking an hour to get through the lines, but by the afternoon, wait times had decreased to anywhere from no wait to 30 minutes.
“We're seeing the lines are moving fairly fast,” he said.
In total, Gaston County has 7 early voting locations, including 3 in Gastonia and 1 each in Dallas, Mount Holly, Cramerton and Cherryville.
All 7 locations will be open weekdays from 8 am to 7:30 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Voters are not required to show a photo ID and masks are not required.
But inside, voters saw several new safety precautions, including free masks for anyone who wanted one, hand sanitizing stations and plexiglass dividers.
Each voting booth was also sanitized between each voter.
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“They would put a sticker out to let you it was clean and that’s how you know your booth had been cleaned,” said voter Anita Grier, “I was satisfied with how they had it set up in there and everybody had their mask.”
For anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable voting inside, any voter can now vote right from their driver’s seat. Curbside voting restrictions used to be based on a voter’s age or disability, but now due to COVID-19, anyone who does not feel comfortable voting in person can vote right from their car.
“If you’re not comfortable coming in or if you’re showing symptoms of COVID stay in your car,” said Ragan.
Thursday, curbside voting was one of the most popular methods of voting. Those voting curbside at the Board of Elections Office reported waiting more than 2 hours.
“I didn’t expect this, but I'm glad I got a car to sit in,” said voter, Randy Yarborough.
For anyone feeling discouraged by the long lines, Ragan said their least busy days are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. He also said due to COVID-19, voters are being kept outside until a booth becomes available making the lines appear longer.
“And I tell people were open all 17 days, if you see a line today, you can come back some other time, we’re still going to be here.”