NC Officials Say No to Sunday Voting and Campus Locations in Disputed Counties

The North Carolina State Board of Elections made final decisions on Tuesday. What was at stake? Sunday voting and on-campus polling sites. The board resolved disagreements within a dozen county election boards that couldn't reach consensus on an early voting plan for the March primary election. Eighty-eight of the state's 100 counties reached a unanimous agreement on when and where to hold early voting.

Boards in the remaining counties clashed during debates about their plans. The counties at issue are Alamance, Brunswick, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Greene, Guilford, Harnett, Jackson, Madison, Pitt, and Wayne.

These disagreements happen often. State law has long required that, if county boards can't reach a unanimous decision, the state will have the final say.

A massive restructuring of North Carolina's election apparatus earlier this year flipped all boards to Republican control. New leadership may handle such disputes differently from past approaches.

At Tuesday's meeting, members from the 12 non-unanimous county boards of elections planned to present their majority and minority plans to the State Board of Elections, which will order a final resolution.

Students from North Carolina A&T State University packed the audience in protest because the Guilford County Board of Elections decided not to add a polling site on its campus. The demonstration took place ahead of the meeting.

The outcome of the meeting resulted in the rejection of Sunday voting in six counties. They also rejected early voting sites at UNCG, NC A&T, WCU, and Elon University.