As we are a month and a day out from the 2015 municipal elections, the recently-elected town leaders have been sworn into office and eyes are shifting to the 2016 election.

The Board of Elections selected six early-voting sites for the upcoming primary, according to director Tracy Reams.

• Board of Elections
• Carrboro Town Hall
• Seymour Center
• Chapel of the Cross
• Efland Ruritan Club
• New Hope Community Center

Reams says that Chapel of the Cross was just opened for the first time in 2015 but saw a good turnout. She adds the growing population in the western part of the county is what led to the Efland location.

The primary will come earlier than usual for Orange County voters. Rather than a May primary, voters will head to the polls in March because the primary has been moved up by the General Assembly in hopes of having more of an impact in the Presidential primary.

While early-voting will not consist of as many days as it has in previous elections, Reams says it will have the same number of early-voting hours at 426.

Early voting will run from March 3 – March 12, with the primary vote held on March 15.

Reams says the Board of Elections site will be open for early voting from nine until six on weekdays, while the five auxiliary sites will be open for voting from 10 o’clock in the morning until seven in the evening during the week. On the two Saturdays of the early-voting period, all six locations will be open from nine o’clock until one in the afternoon.

The Board of Elections chose once again not to include any early-voting hours on Sunday.

What voters will need to bring to be able to exercise their right in next year’s election will change from previous years.

“Beginning in 2016, most voters will have to show an acceptable photo ID when they come to vote,” Reams says. “That can be various forms: a driver’s license, a veteran’s ID card, a tribal card, a passport.

“But for those people that have a reasonable impediment to where they cannot obtain one of those acceptable IDs, then they can sign a form stating that reason and then we will let them vote a provisional ballot.”

Reams says the Board of Elections will be working with residents free of charge leading up to the election to get the proper identification to be able to vote.

Same-day registration is still available during the early-voting period.

To vote on Election Day, residents must be registered to vote no later than February 19.

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