ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Early voting opens statewide today for North Carolina’s Nov. 3 midterm election, giving Buncombe County and Asheville voters two weeks of daily ballot access before Election Day.
State voting calendars show the early window running Oct. 15 through a full fortnight with hours available Monday through Sunday. Election Day itself remains Tuesday, Nov. 3, when federal, legislative and county contests share the same ballot.
Western North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District is among the closely watched federal races on that card. Locally, Buncombe voters will also decide countywide offices, school board seats and Asheville City Schools board races listed in regional ballot guides.
City records note that Sheriff Quentin Miller, in office since 2018, is seeking a third term this November against Republican challenger Gary Parris — the same Miller-Parris sheriff matchup regional voter guides highlight for Buncombe.
On the municipal side, Mayor Esther E. Manheimer has led Asheville since 2013 and is campaigning for a fourth term in the November 2026 city election while chairing the seven-member City Council.
County government sits under a seven-member Board of Commissioners chaired by Amanda Edwards, sworn in December 2024 as the county’s first female chair, so commissioner races this cycle also shape Helene-era recovery choices still dominating Buncombe politics.
Hurricane Helene’s September 2024 flooding remains the dominant civic and economic story for Asheville and Buncombe into 2026, with hundreds of millions in state and federal recovery dollars aimed at housing, infrastructure and the French Broad corridor — a backdrop that is also framing statewide judicial messaging on the same ballot.
Section: More Asheville NC politics news
