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You
can still register and vote in mixed-drink referendum
With new reader Poll at end of article By IRENE NOLAN  You
can still register and vote in the Nov. 6 in the referendum on liquor
by the drink on Hatteras Island if you visit one of the early one-stop
voting sites in Dare County.The referendum on whether Hatteras Island restaurants can serve mixed drinks is the only issue on the ballot. Hatteras residents in all the villages who are registered to vote can cast their ballot. Though registration to vote on Election Day ended Oct. 12, new legislation allows citizens to register and vote on the same day at the three county one-stop locations by completing a voter registration application and showing appropriate identification. Several restaurant owners began a petition drive earlier this year to get the liquor-by-the-drink referendum on the ballot. According to Melva Garrison, director of the Dare County Board of Elections, the petitioners needed the signatures of 25 percent of the island’s registered voters. As of March, that number was 844 of the 3,376 registered voters. The petitioners met that number by the end of June, Garrison said. The mixed-drink referendum will be the only issue on the Hatteras ballot on Nov. 6, since there are no county, state, or federal elections. According to North Carolina election law, the ballot will read, “To permit the sale of mixed beverages in hotels, restaurants, private clubs, community theaters and convention centers. For. Against.” Referendum voting will take place at the five Hatteras Island precinct polling places in the island’s two townships -- Kinnakeet, which includes Rodanthe, Waves, and Salvo, and Avon, and Hatteras, which includes Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras village. One reason that some Hatteras restaurant owners have become more interested in liquor by the drink on the island is that Ocracoke began selling mixed drinks earlier this year. Now mixed drinks are available in the incorporated towns to the north and Ocracoke to the south. The sale of mixed drinks on Hatteras, they say, would “level the playing field.” Currently, Hatteras Island restaurants with the proper permits can sell beer and wine. Also, island restaurants can obtain a “brown bag” permit, which allows customers to bring their own liquor into the establishment. David Dixon, a Hatteras attorney who represents several of the restaurants that petitioned for the referendum, notes that restaurant workers and bartenders have no control over customers who are brown bagging. “The first line of defense,” he says, “is a bartender who can cut people off.” Allen Burrus, Hatteras Island’s representative to the Dare County Board of Commissioners and its co-chairman, has said in interviews that he opposes liquor by the drink in restaurants because substance abuse is a problem on the island and he thinks it sends the wrong message to those folks who are dealing with addiction. He has also said that he thinks introducing mixed drinks into island restaurants will change the character of the island and perhaps make it more tempting for national chain restaurants to locate here. The Dare County Board of Elections will operate three one-stop absentee voting sites for the Nov. 6 general election. The sites are: • Dare County Board of Elections office, 200 Ananias Dare St., Manteo. Monday through Friday, from Oct. 18 through Nov. 2, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 3, from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. • Baum Center, 300 Mustian St., Kill Devil Hills. Monday through Friday, from Oct. 18 through Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. • Fessenden Center, Highway 12, Buxton, Monday through Friday, from Oct. 18 through Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. If you want to register and vote, you must fill out a voter registration application and provide proof of residency by showing the elections official an appropriate form of identification with your current name and current address. Acceptable forms of identification include a North Carolina driver’s license with the current address or bills with the current name and address from companies such as electric or gas, telephone or mobile phone, cable television service, or water and sewage. Other documents with name and current address are also acceptable. To find out more about what documents you can use to register or to get a registration form, go to http://www.darenc.com/depts/BOE/VoterInfo.asp If you want to register and vote, you can do it only at the one-stop voting sites and not at the polling places on Election Day when only previously registered islanders can cast their votes. If you have questions about registering or voting, you can call the Dare County Board of Elections at 475-5631.
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