BURKE COUNTY, N.C. -- Residents of Burke County, from Morganton to Hildebran, said Tuesday that they are voting this year because of the school board race.

At the town hall in Hildebran, people were lined up to vote at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Walter Helton said he came to the polls frustrated by the school board's decision to oust popular superintendent David Burleson.

"Why we had to get rid of our superintendent -- why we spent all the money to get rid of him," he said.

The controversy over the board’s decision this spring to fire Burleson before the end of his contract upset many parents and caused a number of meetings to erupt into chaos.

Board chair Tracy Norman, who is up for re-election, led the effort then to force Burleson out and voters like Ellen Byrd, who lives in the Salem community, hasn't forgotten.

"Seeing it on the news and in the newspaper, it’s been humiliating to me and for our community," she said.

Nearly seven times as many people voted early compared to the early voting totals during the last school board race in 2007. Election officials said as many as 12,000 to 13,000 people could vote in the race this year.

Steve Starnes has been working in politics in Burke County since 1972 and has never seen a higher turnout for a school board race than this year.

"It is uncanny the number of people coming out and the interest this school board race has generated," he said.

Norman told Eyewitness News she has no regrets about her decisions, and the only thing she would have done differently is to vote Burleson out of office sooner.