A new law passed Thursday in Raleigh would require county boards of elections to open an early voting site for every 30,000 registered voters. This 11th-hour pivot is designed to facilitate voting in hurricane-ravaged western counties but could put undue strain on already stressed election workers.
Senate Bill 132, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly and is on its way to Gov. Roy Cooper, requires all counties to open at least one early polling station per 30,000 registered voters by Oct. 29.
The first round of Hurricane Helene relief funding passed last week included $5 million for the State Board of Elections (SBE) to, among other things, reimburse county boards for opening storm-expedient voting places or repairing existing facilities so they could facilitate early voting, which runs through Nov. 2.
“I’m glad that the legislature has such confidence in our abilities because this is a quick pivot that we’re going to have to pull off,” state Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell told reporters on Friday.
Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, a Republican representing Henderson County, introduced the legislation requiring more voting sites. She said her county had opened only one of four early voting sites but could not explain why, during floor debate, the other three had not been opened. Several Democrat lawmakers voiced concern that, should the bill pass, the General Assembly would meddle in county affairs by forcing them to open more polling places.
SBE Attorney Paul Cox said on Friday that the Henderson County Board of Elections voted unanimously in May — far in advance of Helene, which struck in September — to open only one early voting site.
Several election officials in McDowell and Henderson counties, already under pressure to conduct an election amid a natural disaster and a heated political environment, threatened to resign on Thursday if the legislation passed. Bell said no one had resigned on Friday but expressed concern about implementing state mandates so close to an election, especially in storm-damaged western North Carolina.
“What I understand and know is that these election professionals reached out to their legislators and others to try to express the difficulties that come about with these quick changes in election law and procedure,” she said. “I think what we were hearing yesterday were people who are professionals in this field asking their legislators to consult with them before they took action. None have resigned, but you know, I do think that would be our recommendation as we go forward.”
While the measure technically covers all 100 counties, in practice, it affects only early voting sites in McDowell and Henderson counties, both hit hard by Hurricane Helene. Each will have to open one additional site daily until Nov. 2.
Bell said the $5 million pot of money, some of which has already been doled out to western counties for various reasons, is available for them to cover the cost of opening the new sites.
“We have utilized some of those funds for messaging, for printing, for some technology needs, but we do still have funding available, so we will be reimbursing or distributing those funds to the counties,” she said. “We will be able to assist those counties in the setup of those early voting sites.
Bell said that at the start of early voting, the state planned 80 sites in the 25 counties within the federally designated disaster zone.
By the time early voting began, 76 of the 80 planned early voting sites had opened, with power, and they have been operating throughout the early voting period and serving voters.
“These additional sites that will go into effect now, because of the legislation yesterday, we will work with the counties to get those up and running, but that’s why it’s a small number that will be affected,” she said. “And of course, the $5 million that were originally allocated for assistance to these counties and to the state board in supporting the counties, we’ll be able to utilize those funds.”
