Burke may see record voter turnout

The 2020 general election saw Burke County’s eligible voters turn out in robust numbers — 77% of them voted.

Given the high-stakes nature of the 2024 election, Burke County Board of Elections Director Kenny Rhyne said he expects to see the county equal or exceed that total this year.

“It would not surprise me if we were very close or maybe even inch a little bit higher this time,” Rhyne said, “because we’re getting close to 2,000 more voters registered this election (60,156) than we were four years ago.”

Presidential elections are always contentious, but that’s especially true this year in the battle between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. The two major parties are sharply divided on nearly every imaginable issue, and rhetoric is at a fever pitch.

In addition, the race for Governor has garnered national attention with Republican candidate Mark Robinson accused of calling himself a “Black Nazi,” and posting similarly vile comments on social media. Democrat Josh Stein, the state’s Attorney General, is opposing Robinson.

In 2020, 44,759 of the roughly 58,000 eligible voters in Burke cast their ballots. Approximately 31,000 of those took advantage of early voting. That’s another number that could go up this cycle.

“People are ready to vote,” Rhyne said. “They’re wanting to get it done. So, I really think early voting will be higher.”

ABSENTEE VOTING MAY DIP THIS CYCLE

Meanwhile, fewer folks will vote absentee this time than in the previous general election, Rhyne said.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Burke had 5,287 absentee by-mail ballots. So far this year, the board has sent out a little more than 1,400 absentee ballots.

The first batch of those ballots was slated to go out by Sept. 6 across the state, but that didn’t happen. That’s because the N.C. Supreme Court allowed the last-minute removal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from the ballot.

Kennedy dropped out of the race in late August and wanted his name removed in 10 swing states, including North Carolina. The court agreed, saying the state should eat the costs involved and issue new ballots.

The process of removing Kennedy’s name cost the state around $1 million, but a little forethought at the Burke County Board of Elections saved the county some expense and some time.

Burke’s 539 absentee ballots had already been stuffed into envelopes the evening before they were due to be sent out to voters. But the folks at Burke County’s Board of Elections held off on sealing those envelopes shut.

As a result, when the Kennedy ruling came down, workers didn’t have to address a new set of envelopes. They simply destroyed the old ballots and stuffed in new ones.

It took BOE workers about 6 ½ hours to complete the process. The first run of ballots, which had to be destroyed, cost the county $17,000, Rhyne said.