Citizen Times Preseason High School Offensive Lineman of the Year: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Citizen Times preseason offensive lineman of the year vote?

The Citizen Times Preseason High School Offensive Lineman of the Year is a reader vote run by The Citizen Times, the newspaper whose sports desk follows Western North Carolina high school football. Each summer the desk ranks the returning linemen it rates highest and lets the public settle the argument; its announcement for the 2026 round reads, "The Citizen Times ranked the top 15 Western North Carolina high school offensive linemen returning for the 2026 NCHSAA and NCISAA football seasons."

Balloting runs on Crowdsignal, the survey platform behind the poll.fm address https://poll.fm/15626603. The poll page is titled "Vote for the Citizen Times 2025 preseason high school offensive lineman of the year (Poll Closed)", and the paper's 2026 story brands the honour with the Ingles name: "Vote for the Ingles WNC preseason offensive lineman of the year."

A seventh option rounds out the list beside those six. Because the ballot honours a single position rather than a whole roster, attention concentrates tightly on the classmates, families and alumni behind each school, and every school paired with an option sits in North Carolina.

Which editions of the lineman vote are confirmed, and what dates are pinned down?

Summer editions of the vote stand out in 2025 and 2026, which marks the programme as an annual fixture tied to the preseason, not a standalone stunt. The 2025 ballot page now headlines itself as closed, while the 2026 round is the better documented of the pair.

The Citizen Times story that opened the 2026 round tells readers to vote for the Ingles WNC preseason offensive lineman of the year and states plainly, "Voting will close July 2 at noon." The same coverage places the start on June 29, so the fan vote ran across the turn from June into July.

Beyond those dates the organizer leaves several basics unprinted: the ballot carries no category roster, and nothing in the paper's coverage states how often a person may vote or who qualifies to take part; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

How does a supporter cast a vote for a lineman?

Casting a vote takes moments. Open the poll.fm ballot while a window is live, select the control beside a listed lineman and send the choice. Nothing on the page asks a voter to register or sign in, and the options all sit together on the same ballot rather than behind tabs or rounds.

Timing is the real constraint. When the organizer ends the round, the ballot says so openly; the 2025 page still carries "(Poll Closed)" in its headline. A vote attempted after that point has nowhere to land, so anyone campaigning for a lineman should treat the published close as final.

The ballot offers no category navigation and no alternate entry path; the poll.fm address serves desktop and mobile visitors alike, and the choice a supporter makes is between the named linemen and nothing else.

How does this vote sit beside its North Carolina neighbours?

North Carolina supports a crowded slate of public votes, and this one stands apart by narrowing to a single football position. The sibling programmes tracked alongside it show the contrast:

Those rounds lean on broad category slates and long voting stretches; this ballot compresses the contest into a single position, a single ranked field and a window measured in days before the July 2 noon close. Anyone weighing where to direct support should treat them as different exercises: a citywide best-of campaign builds breadth over weeks, while this one rewards a concentrated push for a specific name.

How can a lineman's community rally support inside a short window?

The tight schedule leaves little slack, so a lineman's best asset is a ready-made network: teammates, parents, faculty and alumni who already follow the school. Share the exact ballot address, name the player and his school in the message so nobody selects the wrong lineman, and send reminders well ahead of the noon close on July 2.

The Citizen Times prints no guidance beside the poll about outside voting help, paid or otherwise. For a broader playbook on earning support, the site's guide to getting more votes online covers outreach habits that suit short windows, and the award-votes page explains what paid help involves for ballots shaped like this single-position vote.