DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — County boards of elections are seeing record numbers of mail-in ballots. Over 350,000 people have already voted in North Carolina, with four weeks left until the general election.

“It’s not like any election I’ve ever helped, and I’ve been around a long time,” said Ruth Huneycutt, the director of Davidson County Board of Elections.

Huneycutt has spent the last four decades serving on the board. She says they are working long hours, six days a week to keep up with the surge in early voting by mail this year.

“It’s tremendous. It’s more than doubled itself since 2016. We have worked day and night trying to keep up with the pace it has turned out to be,” said Huneycutt.

The United States Elections Project tracks early voting statistics. It’s currently reporting a 31 percent return rate in Davidson County. Over 4,200 people have voted and three times that many people have requested mail-in ballots in the county.

Over the summer legislators updated North Carolina law, requiring one versus two witnesses for an absentee ballot, in response to the pandemic.

Even so, incomplete witness information continues to trip up voters.

“People are forgetting to put the address of the witness. It’s been a small percentage, but they have missed that portion of it,” Huneycutt said.

In Guilford County, the United States Elections Project is reporting the highest rejection rate in the state. Nearly 9 percent of mail-in ballots have been rejected. That’s more than five times the statewide rate.

Huneycutt says it’s important to take the time now to make a voting plan and not be discouraged.

“Study your candidates, know who you want to vote for, go ahead and apply for your absentee, mail-in and we will fix you up,” Huneycutt said.

The deadline to request a ballot by mail is Oct. 27.