From left: Denis Bilodeau, Michael Osborne, Scott Higgins, Charlotte Brown, Charmaine Nephew, Michael Miltich, Sharon Washam, Woody Washam, Robert Carney

Oct. 26. By Dave Yochum. County-wide Early Voting got under way at Cornelius Town Hall at 8 am, but by 8:30 am there were still more candidates and their supporters than voters.

But by 10:30 am there were 69 voters.

All five Cornelius Town Board seats are up for grabs, as well as the mayor of Cornelius. Both mayoral candidates, Commissioner Denis Bilodeau and incumbent Woody Washam kept their distance near the rear entrance of Town Hall.

Traffic, roads and fast growth are the top, related issues in Cornelius.

Voters from anywhere in Mecklenburg may vote at any one of 19 Early Voting locations.

New this year is an Early Voting location in Davidson which would be siphoning off voters, except there are no races in Davidson this year: Mayor Rusty Knox is running unopposed. There are five candidates for five seats on the Davidson Town Board.

The local municipal elections—Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville—are non-partisan races for two-year terms.

In both Cornelius and Davidson there are referendums on two-year terms vs. four-year terms.

Early Voting ends at 3 pm Nov. 4. For more information on voting this year in Mecklenburg County, click here.