Elections board rejects GOP plans to limit early voting in key NC counties
The State Board of Elections rejected Republican efforts to limit or alter early voting plans in several key counties at a meeting on Tuesday.
Voting mostly along party lines, the board denied plans that would have cut Sunday voting and removed an early voting site from a college campus, and one that would have cut the early voting period in half.
In North Carolina, early voting plans have to be approved unanimously by a county board of elections. If board members cannot reach a unanimous vote, the decision goes to the state board.
This year, the state board had to consider early voting plans in 11 counties that could not reach a unanimous agreement.
Counties disagree on early voting days, sites
Most of the disagreements that came before the State Board on Tuesday dealt with Sunday voting.
Republican state board member Kevin Lewis voted against any county plan that included Sunday voting, while Republican member Stacy Eggers joined the board’s Democratic majority to approve some plans with Sunday voting.
In opposing Sunday voting, Republican board members pointed to added costs and respect for religious services as reasons to limit the practice.
“I just want to say that everybody that I’ve ever spoken to that voted on Sunday, I asked them, ‘If you didn’t have the Sunday option, would you have voted another day?’” Lewis said. “100% of them told me ‘yes.’”
Democrats, however, said that Sunday voting provided a necessary alternative to voters with nontraditional schedules.
“If they don’t want to, they don’t have to — it’s not mandated that they vote on Sunday,” Jeff Carmon, a Democrat on the board, said. “But it gives them an option, and I think that’s what we should be more about — giving options to folks who are not similarly situated to us.”
The state board approved Sunday voting plans in Brunswick, Chatham and Davidson counties and more.
Other disagreements dealt with more substantial changes.
In New Hanover County, a member of the board’s Republican minority proposed cutting the number of early voting days from 17 days to 8 days.
New Hanover is somewhat of a battleground county for several statewide races, tending to have very close election results. In 2020, President Joe Biden got just over 50% of the vote in New Hanover and Gov. Roy Cooper received about 53%
Reducing the early voting period would have run afoul of state law, which requires it to last from the third Thursday before an election until the last Saturday before that election, the board’s lawyer, Paul Cox, said.
All state board members except Lewis voted to reject this plan.
In Guilford County, a Republican member of the board proposed removing an early voting site from UNC Greensboro’s campus and a community center in High Point.
The State Board adopted a compromise plan, in which the campus and community center sites would be included alongside three additional early voting sites that Republicans had proposed.
In 2020, President Joe Biden received over 60% of the vote in Guilford County and Gov. Roy Cooper received nearly 64%.
An earlier process than usual
Typically, counties are required to submit their early voting plans in August, but this year the state board set the deadline for early May.
Republican members of the state board voiced concerns about the expedited timeline.
“I think we are premature in our consideration,” Eggers said. “We’ve never adopted early voting plans before a June 30 budget deadline by a county.”
While Eggers did vote with Democrats on some of the nonunanimous plans, he ultimately joined with Lewis to vote against approving the state’s early voting plans overall, noting his disagreement with the timeline.
In April, the chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, Jason Simmons, sent a letter to the state board accusing members of using the timeline change to get around legislation currently pending in court that would change the structure of election boards.
GOP election law could affect future decisions
While the state board was able to resolve county disagreements on Tuesday, proposed changes to the structure of election boards could complicate future decisions.
Republican state lawmakers passed a bill last year to make all election boards have an even number of Republicans and Democrats. The law, enacted as Senate Bill 749, would also take away the governor’s power to appoint these board members and give it to legislative leaders instead.
Election boards are currently structured to have a 3-2 majority of the governor’s party. Under the new structure, though, these boards could tie on consequential votes — like approving an early voting plan.
Under current law, if the State Board of Elections couldn’t agree on an early voting plan for a county with a nonunanimous decision, then that county would automatically revert to having only one early voting site.
A panel of Superior Court judges struck down SB 749 in March, but their ruling could be reversed on appeal.
