Voters battling long lines at early voting

It is five days until Election Day, but many North Carolinians aren’t waiting until Tuesday.

It has been a record turnout for early voting this year, and the crush has resulted in long lines for voters.

One by one people stand in line to have their say in this year’s general election.

”I think it’s awesome. It’s pretty cool that people are coming out, voting and waiting this long and it’s been this way for at least a couple of weeks,” said Melissa Everett, a local voter.

Since early voting started two weeks ago, Board of Elections officials have seen record turnout. More than 40,000 New Hanover County residents have voted compared to more than 17,000 in 2004. The high turnout has increased peoples wait time to actually get to the voting booth.

Bonnie Williams is the Board of Elections director for New Hanover County. She wants people to know to “Be prepared to wait, and it could be sporadic lines through out the day. It’s hard to say what time of day the lines will be the longest.”

Board of Elections officials are only using “1 touch screens” during early voting. They say it saves time and money for them to use versus paper ballots. There are at least six machines depending on which site you go to in New Hanover County, which is the likely reason for the backed up lines.

In Pender County nearly 50% of registered voters have voted. In Brunswick County, nearly 40% have voted. Early voting lasts until Saturday.