This fall Hampton’s registered voters will have multiple ways to cast their votes, including doing in-person absentee ballots at the city’s former circuit courthouse downtown.
The Hampton City Council voted Wednesday to use the 144-year-old former courthouse on Kings Way as a satellite voting site for early voting beginning late September through October.
Back in June, Hampton election officials sought to use the two-story structure because they anticipate a surge in registered voters using absentee ballots because of the pandemic, Hampton Registrar Tara Morgan said.
The election board had been observing how localities in North Carolina were handling early voting and decided that it needed to be able to give voters more options. With Virginia’s new state law permitting registered voters to use “no excuse” absentee ballots, Morgan said they wanted to be ready.
“To make sure it’s simple for voters to get out there and cast their vote. One of the reasons people want to vote early is to avoid the lines on Election Day,” Morgan said. “Because of the no-excuse law … 60% of the voters voted early in North Carolina. That’s what made us decide to help cater to the voters to keep the lines down.”
As per state code, the Hampton council had to approve the new location at least 60 days before the November election.
“The former circuit courthouse is a larger space that is anticipated to provide greater accessibility and social distancing compared to the Office of the General registrar alone,” City Manager Mary Bunting said Wednesday.
The courthouse is being renovated, re-tiled and painted, with booths, computers and tabulators coming in at the end of August, Morgan said. Staff will have social distancing in place, along with masks and other personal protection equipment.
“At those offices, you can actually vote in person and put it in the machine. It will look like a precinct basically,” Morgan said.
The Hampton Voter Registrar received $95,881 in federal coronavirus funding support for absentee ballot, postage, voting equipment, laptop and secure mail drop boxes.
Registered voters also may submit absentee ballots at the registrar’s office at 1919 Commerce Drive in Suite 470. Voters will still have the option to vote at their local precincts, and all 30 expect to be open on Nov. 3 during regular voting times.
During the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, approximately 5,000 people cast absentee ballots when there were restrictions with using them. Earlier this year, Virginia lawmakers passed legislation making it easier for voters to use absentee ballots if they choose, and also allowed localities to set up satellite voting locations.
During Hampton’s May local elections for mayor and city council races, Hampton’s registrar’s office mailed out nearly 7,300 ballots because of the pandemic. The registrar also placed a special ballot box outside its office on Commerce Drive, as many people didn’t want to come inside, Morgan said. The office received a little over 5,000 ballots by mail, which included those placed in the drop box and 151 ballots in person.
Ideas for how to redevelop the two-story historic structure — smack in the middle of Hampton’s historic downtown district — had run the gamut, everything from an arts hub to temporary city offices, Bunting said. In the city’s capital plan for fiscal year 2020, Hampton set aside $850,000 to upgrade the historic courthouse.
Years ago, the courthouse shared space with the city treasurer, commissioner of revenue and the Hampton registrar, but those departments relocated in 2007 when the courts needed additional space for jurors. The courts moved out a few years ago after the city built a modern courthouse at 237 N. King Street.
The registrar’s lease at Commerce Drive will be up in 2021, so those offices ultimately will move back to the Kings Way location, Bunting said.
The Hampton voter satellite office at 101 Kings Way will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Sept. 18 through Oct. 31 and for the last two Saturdays in October from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The voter registrar office at 1919 Commerce Dr., can be reached by phone at 757-727-6218.
Lisa Vernon Sparks, 757-247-4832, lvernonsparks@dailypress.com
