Early voters in Cabarrus County met with long lines

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Cabarrus County elections officials said that the first day of early voting is always busy and they were prepared for that on Thursday.

VOTE 2024

• Early voting underway, despite closed polling sites in western NC
• In-person early voting starts Thursday in North Carolina

They were fully staffed at all the county’s early voting locations.

Wait times outside the Cabarrus County Board of Elections voting site varied.

“I’ve been out here 15, 20 minutes now and it looks like it’ll be 45 minutes,” said voter Ken Hinson.

Some waited longer.

“Roughly two hours I waited,” said U.S. Navy veteran Andy Roberts said.

“Two-and-a-half hours, maybe more,” voter Taresha Broadneaux told Channel 9.

>>Channel 9 is your home for election coverage ahead of Nov. 5. We reached out to all the candidates in local races. See how they want to represent you in their own words.

Chopper 9 flew over the board of elections Thursday afternoon when lines were at its height.

“It was overwhelming when I walked up because the line was wrapped all the way around the building,” Broadneaux said.

Cabarrus County opened four early voting locations this year.

“This is a very important election,” Broadneaux said. “Not that the other ones weren’t, but I expected to be out here for a while.”

A county spokesperson said there were no security issues or reports of voter intimidation, but some voters said people walked through the line and were not exactly civil about it.

Roberts said a woman seemed to target members of the military.

“She started asking a lot of questions about his beliefs, and that’s private,” Roberts said.

Veteran Ken Hinson said lines like the ones on Thursday were what he fought for.

“Do your due diligence,” Hinson said. “Let’s vote and then when it’s all over, let’s do what we need to do to come together so we can make this thing work.”

The Cabarrus County website tracks live wait times, so election officials encourage voters to use it.

Wait times at the other three locations were not as long as the board of elections site on Thursday.

(WATCH BELOW: In-person early voting starts Thursday in North Carolina)

In-person early voting starts Thursday in North Carolina

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