The new liberalized one-stop voting procedure is keeping county elections officials hopping.

In the first three days of one-stop voting, 376 people visited the Moore County Board of Elections office in Carthage to cast ballots for the Nov. 7 election.

That brings the total number of absentee ballots issued this year to more than 1,000, a record.

Glenda Clendenin, county elections director, predicts that 3,000 absentee ballots will be marked by the early November deadline. In past elections, the total has never exceeded 2,400.

“So far, voters are not having long waits,” Clendenin said Wednesday. “People seem grateful. They’re saying this is a wonderful way of doing it.”

Three polling booths are set up in the lobby of the elections building and another four are in the warehouse, area.

If business picks up even more, Clendenin said it might become necessary to move all booths to the warehouse, where there is plenty of room. The lobby is large enough to accommodate a few voters at a time, but it is also a work area where elections personnel must help visitors with other business.

Clendenin said the move to the warehouse may be needed if voters arrive as many as eight or 10 people at a time.

One-stop voting began on Monday. The first day drew 115 voters, 40 of whom were from the three Pinehurst precincts. Another 130 voted Tuesday, and the number climbed to 131 Wednesday. Two voters had already shown up before 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

One-stop voting is a form of absentee voting in which a registrant may cast ballots prior to the Nov. 7 election. In the past, this method of voting was available but only if the voter had a reason for being unable to vote on Election Day.

This year the law has been changed to allow early voting without giving any reason. The new method has been tagged “no-excuse” absentee voting.

The traditional method of absentee voting, in which a voter applies for an absentee ballot, has not been changed. The mail-in absentee ballot procedure continues to be attractive to military personnel and other people who know in advance that they will not be in their home county Election Day.

Clendenin reported this week that a new voting problem has arisen in Moore County. She said her office has received numerous calls from voters who have received telephone calls from unknown sources telling them their ballots will be mailed to them. The implication is that everyone will be mailed ballots and it will not be necessary to visit polling places election day.

This information is bogus, and there is no change in election procedures this year, other than the one-stop voting method, Clendenin said.

Clendenin said that this bogus effort may be a random thing, but she was planning to call the state elections office to see if this has happened in other counties. The calls are especially puzzling because the anonymous callers apparently have acquired some unlisted telephone numbers.

Mary Pope, chairwoman of the elections board, made a pitch for an additional full-time employee Monday when the Moore County Board of Commissioners met jointly with the elections board for an update on the elections process.

The commissioners made no commitments. But Commissioner Bob Ewing did commend Clendenin, her staff and the elections board for their exceptional work.

“We get very few complaints,” Ewing said.

During that joint meeting, the commissioners asked Clendenin if there had been inquiries about enabling jail inmates to vote this year. Convicted felons are not legally permitted to vote, but people convicted of misdemeanors are allowed to vote.

Clendenin quoted Sheriff Frank Johnson as saying his office has received one inquiry from an inmate, but up to this point there has been no follow up. The elections director said she offered to cooperate if eligible inmates want to vote.

Only once in the 15 years that she has directed Moore County elections has an inmate asked to vote, Clendenin told the commissioners.

“They brought him in shackles, and he voted,” she said.

This is a busy season for elections personnel. Clendenin said Monday that about two-thirds of the Election Day precinct workers had been trained. Voting machines have been programmed.

The next big deadline is Oct. 30, when candidates must submit campaign finance reports to the county elections office.

Clendenin said her office has been working almost non-stop in the last two weeks. Phones have been ringing constantly, with people calling about such things as one-stop voting and asking routine questions about address changes and polling place locations.

Absentee ballots will be held until Election Day and will be counted that afternoon. Clendenin said state law prohibits announcing the results of absentee voting until the polls close, to avoid undue influence on voters who have yet to cast their ballots.

Extra Help Needed

She added that her office would need all the help available Nov. 7, especially with the interest shown in the 2000 elections.

“We have eight incoming lines, and they ring constantly on Election Day,” she said.

Clendenin reported that the Moore County Government Academy has adopted Election Day as a special project and academy students will be assisting Oct. 25 through Nov. 8. The academy, initiated several years ago by County Manager W. David McNeill Jr., provides intensive training in all aspects of county government for county employees.

Gregg Allen, a member of the elections board, predicted Moore County would have a 75 percent voter turnout this year if the weather is good. Turnout always improves in the presidential election year, he said.

“Pinehurst might set a record this year,” Allen said.

Clendenin said the county had a 76 percent turnout for the 1992 election. It dropped to 52 percent in 1994, a non-presidential year. It climbed to 65.6 percent in 1996 and went back down to 53 percent two years ago.

Moore County has 121 voting machines with four spares. Each precinct has at least one machine for every 350-500 registrants.

Clendenin said that a few machines have been replaced and others have been upgraded, but they remain efficient. One recent improvement has been addition of higher-speed printers for some machines, she said.

Registration books closed Oct. 13 for the election. As of Monday, the county had 50,725 voters, Clendenin reported. She said another 400 or more registrations had been received but had not been processed and checked for accuracy.

Because of the latest changes in election law, the board of elections has extended office hours for one-stop voting. All one-stop voting is carried out at the elections office on Pinehurst Avenue in Carthage.

The location is across the road from the government complex where such buildings as the health and agriculture centers are found.