Share on Facebook {mosimage}In an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon, the Johnston County Board of Elections voted to prolong early voting hours Saturday. About 28,000 Johnston County residents - 28% of all registered voters in the county - had already cast ballots as of Wednesday, October 29.

The board unanimously decided that the county's three early-voting sites would be open an extra four hours on Saturday - the final day of early and one-stop voting. The sites now will be open from 9am to 5pm. The county elections board has promoted early voting as a way to avoid long lines and possible problems on Election Day. JoCo residents have taken the advice -- and have headed to the polls.

As of Monday afternoon, the county elections board had added nearly 16,000 registered voters to its rolls since the 2004 presidential election, an increase of 19%. As of 1pm Thursday, 8,125 people had voted at the Clayton early-voting site at The Church at Clayton Crossings, located inside the old Winn Dixie. The polling site opened on October 21. The other two early-voting sites in the County are at Johnston Community College's Cleveland campus and at Smithfield Town Hall. As of last week, Democratic early voters had far outnumbered Republicans.

In Clayton as of Saturday, 2,613 Democrats had voted early compared with 1,573 Republicans. Countywide, there were 8,340 Democratic early voters compared with 5,481 Republicans. Unregistered voters can still register through Saturday at the early-voting sites, and then cast ballots at the same time (deemed "one-stop voting").

Residents wanting to take advantage of one-stop voting should go to an early-voting location with one of these types of identification: a North Carolina driver's license with current address; a document with name and current address from a local, state or U.S. government agency; a utility bill with name and current address; a student photo ID along with a document from the school showing the student's name and current address; a paycheck or paycheck stub from an employer or a W-2 statement; or a bank statement or bank-issued credit card statement.