By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com

Two-plus weeks of early voting came to an end in Lee County on Saturday, and the stage is now set for Election Day 2022 on Tuesday.

A total of 11,566 Lee County voters cast their ballots in early voting, which represents just over 29 percent of the total number of registered voters locally. 6,927 of those votes were cast at the McSwain Center on Tramway Road and 4,639 voters chose the Board of Elections office on Elm Street.

No voting will take place on Monday, November 7. Persons who want to vote on Election Day (Tuesday, November 8) must go to the precinct where they are registered.

The results of the early voting will be combined with absentee ballots that are returned to the Board of Elections office by 5 p.m. on Election Day and those totals will be the first results released, expected to be just after the polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening.

The last non-presidential election year cycle was in 2018 and in that year, 3,755,778 votes were cast across the state, representing 52.98 percent of the registered voters in North Carolina. Political scientists are expecting that number to be eclipsed this year.

About 19,500 registered voters within Lee County cast their ballots in the 2018 election. For the 2022 election, there are 39,363 registered persons who are eligible to vote this year across the county’s 10 precincts.

Unofficial election results will be reported as they become available on the Elections Results Dashboard operated by the State Board of Elections in Raleigh. All results from Lee County are reported there and are available as soon as results are available from each precinct.

Candidates in local races answered questions from The Rant, which can be viewed here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The timeline for the reporting of results will follow this general outline:

7:30 p.m.: Polls close.

7:30-9:00 p.m.: Board of Elections reports results of early one-stop and absentee ballots received by 5 p.m. on election day.

7:30-9:30 p.m.: Precinct officials hand-deliver election day results to the County Board of Elections office.

8:30-midnight: Election results are reported until all are posted.