Last week, on Oct. 19, early voting opened for residents in the city limits of Franklin and Highlands who are interested in casting their votes in municipal elections, according to John Williams, elections specialist with the Macon County Board of Elections.
“The Franklin election is uncontested but must be held unless the candidates are all incumbents,” he informed. “We have a new individual filing for the [Franklin Town Council] so we must hold the election. The Highlands election is hotly contested with five individuals running for three seats of the Highlands Town Commissioners. Individuals must live within the respective municipality to vote. This is not a county-wide election.”
Williams encourages anyone who is not certain if they are eligible to vote in the Nov. 7 election to call the Macon County Board of Elections’ office. The Franklin early voting location is the Community Building at 1288 Georgia Road, and Highlands is at the Civic Center 600 N 4th Street. The hours for both locations are 8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, and the following Saturdays: Oct. 28 and Nov. 4. The hours on Saturday are 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Voter photo ID is required, but for more information on the identification topic, visit: https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting/voter-id.
“Most people will be using a driver’s license or a non-drivers ID to vote,” noted Williams.
Finally, North Carolina provides a “cheat sheet” for Voter ID with information at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Voter%20ID/2023-Voter-ID-Requirement-Infosheet.pdf.
“We also post the most up-to-date information on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/MaconCountyElections,” concluded Williams.