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Buncombe County’s Municipal Election for the Town of Weaverville, Town of Woodfin, and Woodfin Water & Sewer District has ended with more 1,885 people coming out to cast their votes and 618 people voting early. So far 44 absentee ballots have been processed, with the expectation there may be more from mail-in returns, making the current voter turnout 16.71%. For comparison, turnout is not quite as high as it was in 2021, with 19.8% of registered voters but much higher than 2019 with 5.09%. The number of registered voters has grown in these municipalities in recent years with a total number of eligible voters at 11,281.
Voters saw some new procedures in place with the ExpressVote ballot marking machines utilized during early voting and the new photo ID requirement for all voters. “We had no issues, but it’s great to be able to run new things on a small scale, especially before 2024 when we could have the largest turnout ever,” says Election Services Director Corinne Duncan. “Thank you to all the voters, poll workers, election officials, commissioners, observers, candidates, parties, our board members, and all the county and city departments that work with us to make it all happen.”
Absentee and early voting results were posted at 7:30 p.m., and all precincts had reported by 8:50 p.m. You can see those results posted on the North Carolina State Board of Elections Results dashboard here and on our website at buncombecounty.org/vote.
Election night marks the beginning of the statutorily required vote-counting and auditing processes after every election called “canvass.” Canvass is the entire process of ensuring votes have been counted correctly and required audits have been completed, culminating in the certification of results during meetings of every county board of elections. By law, these canvass meetings will be held by each county board of elections at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 17.
All eligible ballots will be counted. County boards of elections must count absentee-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day that arrive in the mail by 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13.