If you want to vote early, you only have two more days.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Early voting ends Saturday. If you are not yet registered to vote, you can still mark a ballot on early voting days, because staff will register you on site.

See the full list of area times and locations for early voting.

In your average election year incumbent members of Congress running for reelection get a share of the vote somewhere in the upper 60s. But our newest national poll finds that if there was an election today, only 47% of voters in the country say they would vote to reelect their current Representative, with 33% saying they would definitely vote for a challenger and 20% unsure.

The Wake County Board of Elections has established a new voting location in Raleigh. Voters in Precinct 01-11 will now be voting at the following location:

North Carolina PTA Office
3501 Glenwood Ave.
Raleigh, NC  27612

All voters affected by the new voting location will be notified by mail. All voters must vote at the location assigned to them.

Residents who receive new cards from the Wake County Board of Elections addressed to previous owners or tenants are asked to not open the envelope, but instead write on it that the person no longer resides at that address and give the letter back to the postal carrier.

For more voting information, contact the Wake County Board of Elections at 856-6240 or visit the Web site.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina’s General Assembly holds a joint session to confirm Gov. Beverly Perdue’s three nominations to the state Board of Education.

The House and Senate get together Monday night to vote on whether to accept Wayne McDevitt, Patricia Willoughby and Reginald Kenan. McDevitt and Willoughby have been on the board since 2001. Reginald Kenan would become a new member of the state school board. He’s been on the Duplin County school board since 1989.

McDevitt was secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources Department under Gov. Jim Hunt. Willoughby was the state Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction during 2004-05.

The governor appoints 11 of the 13 members of the board of education, which also includes the lieutenant governor and the state treasurer.

RALEIGH, N.C. – A bill to allow North Carolina school districts to start classes each year as much as 2½ weeks earlier than what’s now allowed has hit a roadblock.

The House Commerce Committee narrowly defeated a motion Tuesday night to recommend the measure go to the House floor.

The bill would change the 2004 law requiring most schools to begin no earlier than Aug. 25 and end by June 10. Districts could start as early as Aug. 8.

Education groups argue districts should decide their own start dates. The tourism industry and parents oppose the change because they say districts want to erode traditional summer vacations.

The 13-to-14 vote doesn’t necessarily kill the bill. Sponsor Rep. Ray Rapp of Madison County hopes the motion will be reconsidered.

According to votins results, 1,826 people voted early in Chatham County on the issue of whether to allow liquor by the drink.

Citizens go May 5 to agree or disagree with a change that would allow hard liquor by the glass in Chatham establishments.

The ballot reads: TO PERMIT THE SALE OF MIXED BEVERAGES IN HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, PRIVATE CLUBS, COMMUNITY THEATRES AND CONVENTION CENTERS.  You may vote: “FOR” or “AGAINST.”

At its meeting on Feb. 16, 2009, the Chatham County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of letting residents decide the fate of liquor by the drink on a countywide ballot.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.  – A North Carolina congressman says a bill to grant federal recognition to the Lumbee Indian tribe is heading toward a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Fayetteville Observer reported Thursday that Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-NC, said in a statement that the recognition bill he sponsored could be voted on within 30 days.

With recognition, the tribe would received millions of dollars for housing, education, health care and economic development.

Lumbees were partially recognized by the federal government in 1956, but the government denied the tribe benefits given to other tribes. Language in the bill also prohibited the tribe from seeking recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Lawmakers are delaying a decision on legislation that could let North Carolina cities and towns choose whether to use taxpayer money to fund some local elections.

The House tentatively approved the measure last week and scheduled another vote on Thursday. But the vote was postponed to Tuesday. If the bill passes, it moves on to the state Senate.

Supporters said using local taxpayer money for candidates would balance the power of big money in local campaigns. Proponents said taxpayers could be forced to support candidates they might dislike. Chapel Hill will allow public financing in local elections this year.

Statewide candidates for appellate judges and three other posts now get public funding.

WASHINGTON  – The next battleground over gay marriage could be the U.S. Capitol.

A preliminary vote by the District of Columbia city council to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere puts the issue on a path to Congress, which has final say over D.C.’s laws. That may force lawmakers to take up the politically dicey debate after years of letting it play out in the states.

“Let’s be clear, this is a new era,” openly gay D.C. Council member David Catania said Wednesday, expressing optimism that the city’s law would clear Congress after a final council vote in May.

The council’s unanimous vote Tuesday came the same day Vermont became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote. Court rulings led to same-sex marriages in the three other states where it’s legal: Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa.

Like the measure approved in D.C., New York also recognizes same-sex marriages performed elsewhere but hasn’t issued its own marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples.

The situation in D.C. is unique, though. After the legislation receives final approval from the council, which is supposed to come next month, the bill is then subject to a 30-day congressional review. That review could be the new Congress’ first opportunity to signal its appetite for re-examining the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allows states to do the same.

Since that federal law was passed in 1996, the debate has primarily played out in individual states.

Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions – in 1999 – and Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriages, which began taking place there in 2004.

Advocates see Washington holding symbolic importance in the debate, but some stressed that there isn’t a dominant battleground in the quest for marriage equality.

“The district is equivalent to a small state, and the only difference is Congress’ ability to interfere with local
decisions,” said David Smith, vice president of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign. “We would treat it as any other state and move to defend the decision of the legislature or the courts.”

However, Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director at New York-based Lambda Legal, noted that D.C. is unique and influential because of its national focus.

“There’s important national attention on the things that happen in the district because it’s the seat of the federal government,” she said.

Opponents said it remains to be seen whether a Democrat-controlled Congress will have any interest in repealing the city’s efforts. A spokesman for a House subcommittee that oversees the city’s affairs said Wednesday that the subcommittee was not commenting on the D.C. measure. Congress is in recess through April 17.

Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council, a Christian organization that opposes same-sex marriage, said the group was considering several strategies, including a legal challenge on whether the legislation violates the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

“I’m concerned that every step closer to same-sex marriage that does not meet resistance makes it easier for some people to accept same-sex marriage down the road,” Sprigg said.

The Obama Administration has spoken of working with Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. John Berry, who is gay and support repealing the federal policy that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, was confirmed by the Senate last week to lead the Office of Personnel Management.

Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., said she hopes the momentum of the D.C. Council’s vote, along with the recent changes in Iowa and Vermont, “will bring our country closer to recognizing the right of consenting individuals in monogamous, long-term relationships to marry.” Tsongas added that she would strongly advocate for the D.C. law in Congress.

The issue of same-sex relationships in D.C. has previously run into trouble on Capitol Hill.

The district passed a law in 1992 recognizing domestic partnerships, which extended medical decision-making powers and other benefits to same-sex couples. But Congress restricted the city from spending its own funds to implement the law until 2002.

City officials say it’s rare for Congress to meddle in local affairs, but it’s not unprecedented.

Recently, lawmakers unhappy with D.C.’s strict gun control measures have tried to weaken the regulations by attaching an amendment to a bill giving the city its first full vote in Congress.

“Everyone would agree we have a tricky relationship with Congress, even when our allies are in power,” said Catania, who is pledging to introduce a measure soon that would legalize same-sex marriages in the district. “But progress is made by moving forward, not standing still.”