Polls across North Carolina opened at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday and will close at 7:30 p.m., giving voters a single day to cast ballots in races that reach from the United States Senate to local school board contests. Anyone looking for where to vote today needs to start with two basics: go to the assigned precinct and bring an acceptable ID.
That is the first and most important step because Election Day in North Carolina does not work like a drop-in system. Voters must show up at the precinct assigned to them, not just any polling place, and the requirement to bring acceptable ID applies before a ballot is cast. For many people, the search for where to vote today is really a search for confirmation that they are headed to the right place before the evening deadline.
The ballot itself is broad enough to matter statewide. North Carolina voters will choose the state's next United States senator, with Democrat Roy Cooper facing Republican Michaely Whatley while Libertarian Shannon Bray and the Green Party's Michael Dublin are also on the ballot. The same voters could also affect the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives through the race between Don Davis and Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District.
There is also more on the line than the marquee federal contests. Voters will decide three proposed amendments to the state's constitution, a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, three seats on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and four seats on the Wake County Board of Education. In a race that has drawn close attention, Cooper has held a large lead in recent polling, but the outcome will still be settled by the votes cast on Tuesday, not by the surveys that came before it.
That is why the final hours matter. WRAL said it would provide live updates on polling problems and results throughout the day, but the basic rules do not change: voters need the right precinct, the right ID and enough time before 7:30 p.m. to get through the line. For anyone still checking where to vote today, the answer is the polling place assigned to them, and the clock is already running.
