With interest in North Carolina’s presidential primary building, a watchdog group is calling on state and local officials to beef up preparations for a surge of voters on May 6 and at the one-stop early-voting sites that open across the state today (Thursday).

“It’s like preparing for a hurricane and a week-long rock concert at the same time,” said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan election-reform organization. “Officials need to plan for every contingency, add extra personnel, anticipate where bottlenecks will happen and keep educating the public about changes in conditions.”

Democracy North Carolina’s recommendations include opening more early-voting sites during the week of April 21, opening sites on Saturdays and Sundays and getting advance cooperation from college officials to process last-minute registrations from students.