Advance voting is beginning Friday in North Carolina – the first of 37 states that will allow balloting by mail for any reason or in person before Election Day, which is November 8.
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However, lawyers for the activists and local Democrats are reviewing the state board’s decisions about early in-person voting in 33 counties and weighing whether to seek more fixes in court.
The state board approved some Sunday voting in at least five counties.
The state board rejected local Republican efforts to drastically reduce or limit voting hours and sites in small, majority-black counties, but also expanded hours in and around Raleigh to deal with throngs of presidential-year voters.
Voting in the 2016 election is getting underway.
Stone said this morning that county elections officials would follow any instructions from the state board.
Another element of the North Carolina elections is the state’s voting law, passed in 2013, signed by Republican Pat McCrory and revoked last July 29 by a court of appeals with the argument that it was an attempt at racial discrimination.
Starting this Friday, voters registered in the southeastern USA state of North Carolina can request their ballots from the state Board of Elections and, once received, they can fill them out and send them to the board of the county where they live.
Thirty-seven USA states plus the District of Columbia allow voters to cast a ballot ahead of Election Day without having to offer an excuse to do so.
But some Democrats anxious it wasn’t enough to handle the massive amounts of early voters in a state that also has a closely fought governor’s race and other statewide elections this November.
It is estimated that about 40 percent of voters could choose early voting this year. The court had emphasized how scaling back early voting days meant removing the opportunity for some Sunday voting popular with black residents and predominantly black churches through “souls to the polls” efforts. Any early voting adjustment could tweak turnout.
The State Board of Elections stepped in Thursday in counties where local boards disagreed – usually along party lines – on dates, times and sites.
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State Board Chairman Grant Whitney, a Republican, declined to speak with reporters Thursday night after the meeting. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content into other works. Please see our terms of service for more information.
