County elections officials across North Carolina — including Wake, Granville and Jackson — are considering or have approved changes to early voting sites, drawing criticism from Democrats and voting-rights advocates who say the moves could make voting less accessible.
The Granville County Board of Elections on Tuesday is scheduled to vote on the relocation of an early voting site from downtown Oxford to locations in Butner and Creedmoor.
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Opponents say the proposal would move voting farther from many Black voters who live near the current site. A group called Political Mobilization Efforts says it’s an effort to disenfranchise Black voters.
Granville county election officials declined to comment, saying a spokesperson for the board wasn’t available for an interview.
Meanwhile, election officials in Jackson County, west of Asheville, remain divided over whether to establish an early voting site at Western Carolina University after a split vote earlier this month sent the issue to the State Board of Elections.
Wake County election officials were also split over a decision to move an early voting site from N.C. State University’s Talley Student Union to the university’s Business Services Center. Republicans on the board cited broader access, saying the site has better parking. Democrats say the change reduces campus convenience for many students because it is closer to a cluster of large dorms.
The Wake County Board of Elections’ Republican chairman, Keith Weatherly, said the Talley site has been “a controversial voting site for quite a while” and argued the new location better serves a larger share of voters.
“It’s more convenient for a larger number of people than just university students,” Weatherly said. He said parking and navigation concerns factored into the decision and added that more registered voters live within a short drive of the Business Services Center than the campus site.
Democratic board member Gerry Cohen voted against the change, saying the campus site has historically provided stronger access for students and West Raleigh voters. He pointed to higher turnout at Talley in recent elections and said the campus community includes tens of thousands of students, faculty and staff. Plus, he said, many students don’t drive.
“It doesn’t make the site more accessible,” Cohen said.
Cohen ultimately voted in a unanimous decision with the board for the county’s overall 18-site early voting plan, saying delaying approval would have pushed election preparations too close to the start of voting.
The disputes over the early sites follow decisions last year by the State Board of Elections to eliminate or relocate several campus early voting sites, including locations at Western Carolina University, North Carolina A&T State University and UNC Greensboro. And they come as Republican legislative leaders push to shorten North Carolina's early voting period.
Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall support proposals to reduce the early voting period. One bill shortens the voting from 17 days to 10 days and eliminate one Sunday of voting. Another piece of legislation backs a separate proposal that would shorten the period to 13 days and also eliminate one Sunday.
Republicans say a shorter voting period would reduce staffing and operational burdens on county election offices.
Democrats worry it could hurt them in November. In recent elections, voters supporting Democratic candidates utilized early voting at a greater rate than those supporting Republican candidates. In the state’s U.S. Senate race, for instance, about 49% of voters in the March Democratic primary voted early, compared with 43% of those who voted in the Republican primary. And Black voters, who are overwhelmingly affiliated with the Democratic Party, have historically used Sunday voting to drive turnout through “souls to the polls” programs.