Thunder, lightning, fog and torrential downpours on an off-year municipal Election Day in Haywood County’s smallest municipalities doesn’t bode well for high voter turnout, but with showers now evacuating the area in favor of bright sunshine, there’s still time for that to change.

At 11:10 a.m. this morning, just 17 of Maggie Valley’s 1,092 registered voters had shown up to vote at town hall; adding in the 56 early votes already received, that spells turnout of only 6.68 percent.

In Canton, just three voters in the Beaverdam 1 precinct had made it to the polls by noon; two early voters submitted ballots before Election Day, giving that individual precinct in Canton a turnout rate of 4.42 percent.

Both polls were visited before lunch, but officials at Beaverdam said they don’t usually get much of a lunch rush, and voters in general tend to vote after work, or after dinner and not first thing in the morning.

Polls across North Carolina close at 7:30 p.m. tonight. For more information including registration and polling locations, visit www.ncsbe.gov. 

Look for more election coverage throughout the day on www.facebook.com/smnews/ or on Twitter @SmokyMtnNews.