You can vote anywhere (but don't tell)

It’s the best-kept secret of the elections, and unfortunately so, said one poll worker.

Regardless of which precinct residents are zoned for, voters may cast their ballots at any polling place Chapel Hill voting site.

They must cast provisional ballots if they vote somewhere other than their designated precincts, and the Orange County Board of Elections can approve or reject them afterwards. As long as the voter is registered in Orange County, the ballots should be accepted, said Towny Ludington, a poll worker at the Center for Dramatic Art.

Provisional ballots give students the chance to vote on campus at the theater at 120 Country Club Rd., which is in the Country Club precinct.
Twenty-six students have cast provisional ballots at the center, but Ludington said the number could have been higher with better advertising.

“My sense is somebody’s told them somewhere else by their friends that they can come here and cast a provisional ballot,” he said.

He said more voting precincts on campus would encourage more students to vote.

Senior Elinor Benami, zoned for the Greenwood precinct, voted at the theater, but said she was unaware of provisional voting beforehand.

“I knew there was a polling site here, so I figured I might as well ask them and see what the process is,” she said.

Polling closes in two hours.