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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Straight Party Tickets Confuse NC Voters

By Michelle Bliss

Wilmington, NC – North Carolina uses machines made by Election Systems and Software.

Certain models were banned in Colorado last year because they misread or skipped ballots.

But New Hanover and Pender county election officials say the machines are accurate.

Pender County's Board of Elections Director Dennis Boyle says the problem so far has been straight party voting.

"Instructions are well-printed, but nobody reads them. We even tell people that a straight-party ticket doesn't vote for president or nonpartisan or other issues. But it's been that way for years it's hard to educate people."

North Carolina requires straight party voters to cast a separate vote for president.

The ballot has instructions and voters are reminded at the polls, but the confusion has prevented some people from casting their vote for president.

Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please e-mail us, we'd like to hear from you. news@whqr.org.

After growing up in Woodbridge, Virginia, Michelle attended Virginia Tech before moving to Wilmington to complete her Master in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. Her reporting and nonfiction writing have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, within the pages of Wrightsville Beach Magazine, and in literary journals like River Teeth and Ninth Letter. Before moving to Wilmington, Michelle served as the general manager for WUVT, a community radio station in Blacksburg, Virginia. She lives with her husband Scott and their pups, Katie, Cooper, and Mosey.