ROCKINGHAM — More than 1,500 Richmond County voters have requested absentee ballots ahead of this November’s election.
County Elections Director Connie Kelly told the RO on Thursday that 1,936 absentee ballots by mail have been requested — “The most I’ve ever seen.”
Before this year, the highest of the previous presidential election years was 597 in 2008, according to Kelly. There were 546 in 2012 and 423 in 2016.
The Richmond County Board of Elections has also received complaints from voters regarding absentee ballot request forms sent by third parties.
“(Third) parties always send out voter registration applications and absentee requests,” she said. “They are not from us, may come from multiple sources, and unfortunately voters sometimes think they are actual ballots, but they are actually just blank request forms.”
Kelly added that 114 duplicates have been caught by the system which prevents additional ballots from being sent to the same person.
As of Tuesday, 463 absentee ballots have been returned.
“We have been pretty busy with voter registration and absentee ballot requests,” she said.
Tuesday was also Voter Registration Day.
At that time, there were 28,757 registered voters in the county, including 13,793 Democrats and 6,535 Republicans and 8,300 unaffiliated. As for third-party voters, there were 96 Libertarians, 24 members of the Constitution Party and nine members of the Green Party.
The last day to register to vote in this election is Oct. 9.
Early voting begins Oct. 15 (click here for that schedule) and the election will be Nov. 3.
Also on Tuesday, Kelly released the schedule for upcoming Board of Elections meetings, with the phone number and access codes for the public to listen in. Most of the meetings will be to approve applications for absentee ballots:
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 2 p.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 118 5992
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 2 p.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 177 3760
Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020 2 p.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 562 1729
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020 2 p.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 098 4000
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020 2 p.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 062 8488
Monday, Nov. 2, 2020 2 p.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 858 6824
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 2 p.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 263 9734
Monday, Nov. 9, 2020 10 a.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 178 3459
Friday, Nov. 13, 2020 11 a.m.
Dial in 1-415-655-0001 Access Code 172 248 1455
