CURRITUCK, N.C. — You might not see any long lines at polling precincts in Currituck and Pasquotank counties, but every vote still counts.
Tuesday is the big day in North Carolina: it’s primary day and thousands of people across the state are casting their ballots.
SEE ALSO: North Carolina Primary Election Results
Currituck County voter Tim Cody has never wasted an opportunity to cast his ballot.
“I never missed an election. Even when I was in the Navy, I did my absentee votes,” Cody said. “If you go to a crowd of people, the person that complains the loudest is usually the one that didn’t bother to come vote and if I want to complain, I want to make sure I voted first!”
There are a lot of big races on the ballot including races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, to determine who will represent each party in November's general election.
“I’m actually way more radical in that I think voting should be a requirement of citizenship,” Cody said. “If you want to be a citizen, you got to follow all the other laws, why don’t we have to vote?”
Susan Johnson of the Currituck County Board of Elections said many people decided to vote early, this year.
“Our numbers are almost consistent with what they were four years ago. So we think we’ve had a halfway decent turnout,” Johnson said. “The last time we had a primary was two years ago during the presidential election. And it’s always higher during those years but it is almost comparable to what we had four years ago in the primary.”
Voters in line said they were pleased to see how many people showed up to cast a ballot.
“Because it’s the primary and there’s not really a whole lot of people who live here regularly, I think it’s a pretty good turnout,” William Bailey said. “I think it’s important for everyone to come out and vote in every election. People fought and died so you could have that right, and I think if you don’t exercise it, you’re doing a disservice and disrespect to those who served.”