3/31/2022 8:54:00 AM Lentz Recreation Center Will Be Used for Early Voting
Wayne Howard Reporter
At February's Lincolnton City Council meeting, the Council passed a resolution to ask the Elections Board not to use the W.M. Lentz Recreation Center at Betty Ross Park for early voting. The use of the building for that purpose will put multiple recreation programs on hold during the early voting period that begins on April 28th and lasts through May 14th.
The Primary Election will be held on Tuesday May 17th, and the Council said they had no problem with using the center for that day, but they didn't want the recreation programs halted during early voting. 122 people who use the Recreation Center signed a petition which was presented to the Elections Board recently making the same request.
The Elections Board, at its March meeting, discussed the request, but turned it down. "If we said 'yes' to them, we'd open the door for others to make a similar request," one board member told us. "The East Lincoln folk might say, 'we don't want you to tie up the East Lincoln Community Center for early voting.' Some in West Lincoln might say, 'don't use our library.'
"We have to use the best available facilities for the early voting locations, and the Lentz Recreation Center is ideal. It's easily accessible even for those who are handicapped but want to go inside to vote; parking is plentiful; and unlike the Citizens Center, where early voting has been done in some previous years, there aren't many big events that fill up parking with crowds."
The Elections Board doesn't meet again until Tuesday April 12th, but it's actually too late for them to change the early voting locations even if they wanted to change them. The NC State Board of Elections has already approved the locations and schedule.
While early voting doesn't begin until April 28th, voting for the May 17th Primary has already begun. Lincoln and all other NC counties elections offices began sending absentee-by-mail ballots to registered voters who requested them for the May 17 primary this week. Voters who have requested absentee-by-mail ballots should receive them soon. In North Carolina, any eligible voter can request, receive, and vote an absentee ballot by mail. Registered voters may request a ballot online at the North Carolina Absentee Ballot Portal. By-mail voters in 2022 must have their ballot witnessed and the return envelope signed by two individuals or a notary.
The regular voter registration deadline for the May 17th primary election is April 22nd. Individuals who miss the deadline may register and vote at the same time during the in-person early voting period.
The Lincoln Herald will provide a list of early voting locations and schedules for Lincoln, Gaston, Catawba & Cleveland counties early in the week when early voting begins.
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