Ahead of Tuesday’s general municipal elections, Cumberland County election officials report spikes in early voting numbers.
Angie Amaro, Cumberland County Board of Elections Director, told CityView that polling locations saw 5,216 early ballots cast as of Thursday evening. That number rose to 7,268 by 3 p.m. on Saturday, when the early voting period ended. The 2023 general election cycle saw just 4,674 early votes.
Board of Elections Chair Linda Devore told CityView the large number of candidates in Fayetteville’s primary election, which wrapped in early October, has driven the higher rate of early voter turnout. This year, 10 mayoral candidates campaigned during the primary election period.
“I think that the large number of choices certainly drove primary numbers,” Devore said, adding that the high level of candidates in October’s primary election is helping to drive interest and awareness for the upcoming general election. Devore said that a lack of awareness about municipal elections is a frequent challenge for election officials.
This year’s primary election set a record for voter turnout, Devore said, with 14,253 voters casting their ballots. This year’s early voter turnout set a record of over 7,000 votes cast—a goal, Devore told CityView, that election officials had hoped to reach.
Devore said it’s possible this general election cycle will see 20% turnout, a record the board of elections has yet to achieve. The highest rate previously seen was a record turnout of 16.5% in 2017, she said.
There are 216,447 registered voters in Cumberland County, according to voter registration statistics from October. Devore told CityView that of the over 200,000 registered voters, 153,266 reside within the county’s 9 incorporated municipalities and are eligible to vote in the November general election. While officials report an uptick in early voting rates this year, the over 7,000 ballots received account for just 4.7 % of the registered voting population.
The early voting period for the Cumberland County municipal elections ended at 3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 1.
On election day—Nov. 4—voters must report to their designated polling place to cast their ballots.
For more information about Cumberland County’s upcoming municipal elections, visit CityView’s elections page.
This is a developing story, and will be updated as information becomes available.
