By Michael Pineda
mpineda@cherryroad.com

Trinity Baptist Church was a beehive of activity with the start of early voting for next week’s general election.

Several hundred county residents wasted little time casting their vote Wednesday morning as the line snaked through the church building onto the sidewalk outdoors. One voter estimated it had taken them 35 minutes to cast their vote.

Among the offices to be decided in the election is the presidential race along with state offices, judges and two state questions. All of the county offices were decided in either the primary or a primary runoff.

Carter County Election Board Secretary Diane Hall said 140 voters went through the line during the first hour with no sign of a let-up in the second hour of voting.  

“We have got people inside the building and outside the building in a line,” Hall said.

While a greater turnout is expected for the presidential election, Hall said she was a little surprised at the number of people that had arrived to vote so early Wednesday. There were voters lined up at 7:15 a.m., standing in the rain as they waited for the doors to open at 8 a.m.

As with any election, staff were available to answer any questions the voters may have. The majority of questions Tuesday morning were about straight party voting. There were also some questions from voters on whether or not they had to vote on the judges and state questions.

Leading into Wednesday, the election board also received inquiries from people wanting to know if there was going to be early voting, along with the typical questions of when or where.

Early voting at Trinity Baptist Church will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The church is located at 12 3rd St. NE in Ardmore.

Election day polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday. People with questions about where their polling place is located can visit www.oklahoma.gov/earlyvote.html and click on OK voter portal.