Election Day is just more than three months away and the Orange County Board of Elections recently approved the local early voting sites for the midterm cycle.

The five-member board unanimously voted to add the Chapel Hill Public Library as its sixth early voting location during a meeting on Tuesday. Previous early voting locations of Orange Works at Hillsborough Commons, the Carrboro Town Hall Complex, the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, Seymour Senior Center in Chapel Hill and Efland Ruritan Club were also approved.

The decision marks the first time Orange County will have six early voting sites for a midterm election cycle.

The county utilized six early voting locations for the 2020 presidential election cycle, with a vacant spot in University Place mall offering the additional location to voters. Director of the Board of Elections Rachel Raper said the board members approved the additional site because of the growing turnout for early voting in the county. According to voter turnout data from the 2018 cycle, 64 percent of those who cast ballots did so at a one-stop early voting location. Raper said the county is estimating a higher turnout for the 2022 cycle, meaning a sixth site may help with timeliness and service for voters at the polls.

The Chapel Hill Library is no stranger to being involved in elections. The library, located off North Estes Drive, is the Estes Hills precinct’s voting site on Election Day.

Additionally, the Orange County Board of Elections approved Tuesday the dates for early voting in the midterm cycle. It will run from Thursday, October 20 through Saturday, November 5, with no days off in between and altered hours for the weekends. Weekday early voting is open 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. On Saturdays, the precincts will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday hours for the early voting sites are 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8. For more local election coverage of the 2022 cycle, visit Chapelboro’s Local Elections Page.

 

Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.


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