Volunteers work to sign up voters ahead of Friday registration deadline

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Inside Sophie's Grill and Bar in Cary, a team of volunteers with the Western Wake Republican Club are organizing mailers to send to voters.

"(Voting) affects our everyday lives. It affects our families. It affects the taxes we pay, who gets elected. Every vote counts," said Sandy Joiner, who serves as president of the group.

Joiner says her team has signed up about 50 new voters through a series of events and outreach strategies.

"We've been going to local festivals, Apex Peak Fest, Asia Fest, HollyFest last year and we sign up, ask people if they want to vote," said Joiner.

Volunteers also carry registration forms, ready to engage in spur-of-the-moment conversations with prospective voters.

"We're trying to inform voters. I've got all the forms I keep with me. I think all of our volunteers have them in our cars," Joiner said.

Friday is the voter registration deadline in North Carolina, as both parties make a final push.

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"For the past several months, we've been knocking on doors and making phone calls to as many voters as possible to let them know what the rules are in regard to voter registration," said Wake County Democratic Party Chair Kevyn Creech.

Creech said they have about 18,000 volunteers who have been engaging in outreach and get-out-the-vote efforts.

"We are working really, really hard to provide accurate information to as broad of a population as possible," said Creech.

Voter education is a key point of emphasis for Beck Whitehead, a sophomore at NC State who serves as co-president of College Democrats of NC State. Through tabling and networking, the group has worked to explain how students can register to vote, including the process of changing their registration address to Wake County.

"There is a change coming. I think there are more young voters who are significantly more interested in going to vote," said Whitehead.

Whitehead estimated he has registered 20 people thus far.

"We have teams of 10-plus people, and so already even if it's just a few hundred or a thousand votes, a thousand votes can make a difference in a county," said Whitehead.

According to a report from Tufts Tisch College, 55% of 18-29 year-olds in North Carolina voted in 2020, a rate five points higher than the national rate.

Talley Student Union is one of 22 early voting locations in Wake County, the most in history.

"It is the haven of NC State. I don't think I've gone a day this semester without being right next to it or in Talley, so it's just the perfect location for getting people out and voting," said Whitehead.

According to the State Board of Elections, 80% of registered voters in Wake County cast ballots in 2020, above the statewide rate of 75%. Breaking it down, that included 82% of Republicans, 75% of Democrats, and just under 70% of unaffiliated voters participated.

"Republicans will show up. One thing to note is that we have more unaffiliated voters than any other type of voter. Here in Wake County, most unaffiliated voters skew moderate to progressive. So we have a coalition with our unaffiliated voters. The true counts will come when we are looking at how many unaffiliated voters turn out as well as Democrats. In 2022, which was a midterm, we had the second highest voter turnout in Wake County in 50 years," said Creech.

According to the State Board of Elections, as of last week, there are about 2,418,633 registered Democrats, 2,298,019 registered Republicans, and 2,912,447 registered unaffiliated voters.

"We've got to have one message. And the party that's able to execute that strategy and that message the best is the one that's going to win, not just at the presidential ballot, but on down the ballot, especially here in Wake County," said Steve Bergstrom, former Chair of the Wake County GOP.

Bergstrom pointed to electoral successes for Republicans in Florida during the 2022 midterms, compared to relatively underwhelming results for the party across the country that year as an example of the importance of an aligned vision.

"This is an important election, but we say that every single year, so we'll see whether or not the strategy of the GOP has worked as far as getting people registered to vote. Now, the transition kind of goes from the registration into get-out-the-vote efforts," said Bergstrom.