Whitney Davis, director of the Nash County Board of Elections, was the special guest and featured speaker at the regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Rocky Mount held March 31 at the Gateway Convention Centre.

Club President George Ramey presided while Rotarian and regional American Red Cross Director Lynwood Roberson provided the introductions.

Davis, who is a graduate of Rocky Mount High School and Meredith College, was recently appointed to her post after extensive involvement in area small business administration and financial services.

She contrasted North Carolina's approach to county elections directors with that of Florida where the position is the subject of an election in each county.

In North Carolina, a bipartisan N.C. State Board of Elections appoints individual county directors and promotes integrity as well as uniformity throughout the state.

Nash County currently has more than 60,000 registered voters made up largely of some 18,000 white Republicans, 17,000 black Democrats and 14,000 white Democrats.

Edgecombe County's total registration is about 35,000.

Looking ahead to the coming primary and general elections, Davis said that there will be 26 regular polling places located conveniently throughout the county and that individuals interested in volunteering their help on election day should contact her office in Nashville.

Early voting for the primary will occur from April 17 through May 3 at either the Nash County Board of Elections facility in Nashville or the National Guard Armory in Rocky Mount.

A person who is 17 may register to vote in the primary so long as he or she will reach his or her 18th birthday by the time of the fall general election.

Voters currently registered have up to April 11 to update their voter registration information, if needed, with the county board of elections.

Interested voters will have a new way to timely follow elections returns with North Carolina's adoption of the Clarity ENR system, which features election night reporting for real-time results.

This is an Internet based reporting system with public access so results can be seen as they as transmitted from the county to the state board.

Some of the features include a visual display on the county map of precincts reporting as well as a visual representation of the tabulation process.

Rotary next meets 1 p.m. April 7 at the Gateway Centre when Mark Strickland of the Nash Rocky Mount School system will talk about the new sales tax proposal.