Early Voting Is Easy at the Univ. of North Carolina

ABC News On Campus reporter Carly Swain blogs:

Between papers, exams, and squeezing in a social life, college students seem to be on the go 24/7.  That’s one reason I decided to take advantage of  early  voting.  I didn’t mind missing the Election Day experience, and if you don’t either, I’d highly recommend giving this a shot.  With such a historic national election, who wants to look back and say, "I wish I had"? I took a trip to UNC’s  early  voting location Saturday afternoon and spent all of 15 minutes being a good citizen.  No lines, no waiting, and no hassle.  Tracy Reams, the  director of the Orange County Board of Elections, says more than 10,000 people had taken advantage of early voting at Morehead Planetarium between Oct. 16 and Oct. 25.  Many of those early voters are UNC students. Even though I attend school in Orange County, I don’t have a permanent residence there.  And although I had already submitted my registration, I was a bit worried that something may have gotten lost in the shuffle.  Before I even entered the building, someone offered me a sample ballot.  I declined, but the gentleman reminded me that "Even if you vote straight ticket, don’t forget that your  presidential vote must be marked separately."  The first table in the voting facility was for registration, but since I registered a few weeks ago, I bypassed that and headed upstairs to the booths. After confirming my name and address, I was handed a paper ballot, a pen, and directed to a  private voting booth.  The longest delay I encountered during my early voting experience was the two minutes it took waiting for my turn to feed my paper ballot into the reading machine. After I got the all-clear from the machine operator, I grabbed my "I Voted" sticker, and headed back to my room to finish reading my current assignment for my English class. To find an early voting facility near you, look at your county’s board of elections  Web site.  After you’re done, it’s nice to sit back and watch all those election ads running on TV or popping up online and think, "I did my part."  Now, those of us who have already voted can just sit back, feel good, and watch history happen!