Almost 37,000 Durham County residents to be impacted by voting precinct adjustments

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — If you’re a voter in Durham County, there’s a chance you’ll have to visit a new polling location to cast your ballot.

When October rolls around for the primary election, voters like Khalid Hameed will line up to submit their picks.

“The best right is to vote,” Hameed, a Durham resident, said.

The Durham County Board of Elections is set to add additional precincts, coming after a series of boundary line adjustments. A precinct is a subdivision of a county, town, city, or ward for election purposes.

The move impacts almost 37,000 people.

“Voters will just have a new location to go to based on where they landed along the split line,” Durham County Elections Director Derek Bowens said. “We thought 2023 would be a great year to do it because typically turnout is lower during municipals.”

Three of the county’s current precincts will be split into two, and each will have its own polling place.

Bowens said the reason is continued population growth.

“It’ll help kind of alleviate some of the stress on the polling places that were previously covering those precincts before they were split,” he said.

Two more precincts will now be consolidated into one. The North Carolina State Board of Elections approved the boundary line changes.

“I do not believe there’ll be substantial changes in terms of who voters will see on their ballots resulting from the splits and the consolidation,” Bowens said.

Voters registered in the adjusted zones will receive new cards in the mail with updated polling place information.

The municipal primary election takes place Oct. 10 with the general election following on Nov. 10.

Precinct 30-1 will split into 30-3 (Polling Place: East Regional Library) and 30-4 (Polling Place: Spring Valley Elementary School).

Precinct 33 will split into 33-1 (Polling Place: Bethesda Elementary School) and 33-2 (Polling Place: Lowe’s Grove Baptist Church).

Precinct 35.3 will split into 35-4 (Polling Place: Lyons Farm Elementary School) and 35-5 (Polling Place: Zakat Foundation).

Precinct 39 and 48 will be consolidated into 56 (Polling Place: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church).