Strach said counties are required to provide early, one-stop voting starting October 20 during normal office hours on weekdays and until 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5 at their board of election offices.
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The number of early voting days was slashed by seven days in the state’s controversial voter ID law, but those days were restored when a federal judge overturned the law earlier this month.
In that plan, Stone said, people could vote the Sunday before the November 8 General Election and, as required by the state, polls at Board of Elections office would be open every day of the 17-day voting period.
At Monday’s county Board of Commissioners meeting, two speakers representing non-partisan voters advocacy groups asked the board during the public comment period to support expansion of early voting hours at Dare County locations in the morning and on weekends. Pat McCrory formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Over seventeen days there’s more than 1,440 hours of voting.
“‘The more (early voting) sites we have, the more opportunities exist for violations, ‘ she said”.
The early voting period in New Hanover County will begin on October 20th, and voters will be able to head to the polls from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 9 a.m.to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
No Sunday voting: Sunday early voting hours have been popular among African-Americans, some of whom organize “souls to the polls” events where church members vote together after Sunday services.
The majority’s plan adds more hours and polling sites than necessary, Randall said, and he worries about asking poll workers to do more.
The current elections board property isn’t spacious enough to handle the expected number of voters this November, and purchasing the facility next door creates a sufficient amount of space and parking, Dodson said.
“I think there should be weekend hours on both Saturday and Sunday”.
Stewart expressed skepticism, saying he has seen ECU Student Transit buses drop off students at the building.
“Our Republican Board members should feel empowered to make legal changes to early voting plans, that are supported by Republicans”, Woodhouse wrote in his email to board members. “We have 17 days, it’s set by the state legislature, and we’re going to have voting”.
Nelson said in 2010 and in 2012 numerous individuals protested holding early voting on Sunday. He held up an 1,800-signature petition that was signed in 2010 as proof numerous people disagreed with Sunday voting. They pointed out none of those individuals attended Wednesday’s meeting.
The room had thinned out as the meeting eclipsed the two-hour mark, but the crowd showed it still had a lot of fight over one particular line from Randall.
County Attorney Mark Payne said that he has taken a call from a political activist questioning whether the unanimous vote was proper because of the loud protest and chanting by demonstrators at the August 9 meeting. She said Sunday voting would be beneficial, especially to the growing Latino community in the county.
“Today, the opportunity to vote is so much more expansive than it used to be. I can’t understand how people can say they are being disenfranchised”, Nelson said.
County Clerk Christa Coffey said they are gearing up for a large voter turnout.
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Renee Boston-Hill, wife of board member Calvin Boston-Hill, said as a white man Nelson can’t understand the experiences of black voters who didn’t have the widespread guarantee to vote until the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
