Asheville March Boosts Buncombe Voter Turnout Before North Carolina Primary

A march for voter turnout traveled from Asheville Middle School to the Wesley Grant Center on Friday night, Feb. 27, 2026, organized by Asheville Fights Back Network with help from other community partners to energize voters ahead of North Carolina’s March 3 primary. Organizers said the goal was to drive people to early voting and the polls as deadlines approached.

Early voting in Buncombe County runs from Feb. 12 through Feb. 28, with the last day to vote early and to register before the primary ending at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28. The march’s timing came as activists highlighted those deadlines to spur same-week turnout ahead of primary Election Day on Tuesday, March 3.

Participants described the march as a way to build collective power in Asheville. Resident Melissa Hyman said, “It helps me feel more powerful as part of a block of people that is powerful, not personally powerful, but we can do something real together.” Marchers said they hoped the event would inspire neighbors to cast ballots before early voting closed.

Buncombe County Election Services recorded 1,276 ballots cast on Feb. 12, 1,526 on Feb. 13 and 1,582 on Feb. 16 — a combined 4,384 ballots across those first three reporting days. The county’s early-voting site roster lists 11 locations: branch libraries in Black Mountain, East Asheville, Enka-Candler, Fairview, North Asheville, South Buncombe and West Asheville; Leicester Community Center; Upper Hominy Fire Station; Weaverville Community Center; and the Dr. Wesley Grant Southside Center in Asheville. The busiest sites during that reporting period were South Buncombe Branch Library (598 voters), Weaverville Community Center (595), North Asheville Branch Library (513) and East Asheville Branch Library (505). Upper Hominy Fire & Rescue Department in Candler reported 52 voters during that span.

Party breakdowns for those early days showed Democrats casting 2,241 ballots, unaffiliated voters casting 1,570, and Republicans casting 570; two Libertarian ballots and one Green Party ballot were recorded in the same dataset. Organizers pointed to those numbers as evidence of both the opportunity and work still needed to reach underrepresented voters before the March 3 primary.

A local TV package running with the march used the line “EARLY VOTING SURGES IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY, WITH MORE THAN 13,000 BALLOTS CAST SO FAR.” Organizers and county officials will need to reconcile differing totals as the early voting window closed Feb. 28 and final pre-primary counts are compiled.

Student and campus mobilization efforts are also active in Asheville. A coordinated campaign called AllInChallenge has aimed to engage students in local races, pledge at least 400 students to vote and work with groups such as Democracy NC on off‑campus voter registration drives, efforts advocates say could shift turnout in Western North Carolina townships and in Asheville precincts.

Volunteer organizer Lafey urged practical steps to reach polls: “There’s several different voting locations and whether you walk to the polls, you drive to the polls, you take the bus, get yourself to the polls.” With early voting ending at 3 p.m. Feb. 28 and the primary set for March 3, election and community groups in Buncombe County are watching whether marches and campus outreach translate into higher election-day participation.