18 residents at local assisted facility look forward to visiting the polls

With elections around the corner, many citizens in Duplin County are looking forward to making their votes count.

Carrie Sullivan, Duplin County Board of Elections director shared with Duplin Journal the efforts of an assisted facility that is going above and beyond to help their residents be able to vote in the upcoming election.

“Megan [Freeman] has worked with her team to get any resident that wants to vote registered and has partnered with us to get the free voter ID cards,” said Sullivan, explaining that Freeman, who is the administrator of Wallace Rehabilitation & Health, reached out to the Duplin County Board of Elections to find out what she needed to do to make it possible for her residents to be able to go into a polling site and vote during the upcoming election.

“I think it is a great thing for a facility to care so much about their people that they want to make it possible for them to vote in person again — which many have not done in years,” said Sullivan, adding that the multi-partisan assistance team will be visiting the facility to aid with absentee ballots for anyone who is not able to go in person.

“We have issued voter IDs to 18 residents at Wallace Rehabilitation & Health and will be going back to issue, I believe, three more that have requested them since our last visit,” said Sullivan.

“The joy that the residents have about being able to go vote at a polling location instead of only through an absentee ballot is truly inspiring. Megan and her team have not only ensured that all residents that want to vote are registered, but they have followed up with staff as well. A few of her team members live in other counties and were not registered, so they filled out registrations and we imported them and transferred them to their correct county BOE office for them,” she added.

Freeman told Duplin Journal that her staff helped by finding out which residents wanted to register, and they coordinated with the BOE to get the ball rolling. She also coordinated arrangements for the facility to transport the residents to the polls.

“Our transport driver has cleared his schedule so that once early voting is open, he can transport residents to the polls to vote. Our goal is to get as many residents to the polls as possible,” said Freeman. “We believe every individual has a right to vote and we are proud to be able to provide our residents this opportunity.”

The Duplin County BOE will be holding a registration drive at the Muscadine Festival on Sept 28.

In-person voting will begin Oct. 17 and run until Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Ed Emory Auditorium, located at 165 Agriculture Drive, Kenansville and at the American Legion Post #156, located at 529 E. Southerland Street, Wallace. Curbside voting is available at both sites and will be available at all 19 precincts on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Individuals who are not registered to vote in Duplin County can register during early voting.

Visit ncsbe.gov to see your voter status, request an absentee by mail ballot and to locate your place to vote. For questions, call the Duplin County BOE office at 910-296-2170.