When it came to the early voting schedule for the Nov. 8 general election in Beaufort County, election officials did not hesitate to do what they thought best for county voters and unanimously adopted a schedule for one-stop voting.

That wasn’t the case in several of the state’s 100 counties, 23 of which reduced the hours in their early voting periods when compared to their hours in the 2012 general election. Of the 21 counties that offered early voting on Sundays in 2012, nine chose to eliminate it in 2016.

Seventy local elections boards voted to increase early voting hours in 2016 than they offered in 2012. On Thursday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections determined early voting schedules for 33 counties that did not reach unanimous decisions regarding their early voting schedules. For the most part, the state board sided with the majority plans submitted by the boards of elections. Early voting on Sundays was discussed during Thursday’s proceedings, with data indicating many black voters mark ballots on Sundays.

Beaufort County does not have early voting on Sundays.

On July 29, a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (based in Richmond, Virginia) struck down North Carolina’s photo ID requirements and other voting procedures that became law in 2013, including shortening of the early voting period from 17 days to 10 days and eliminating same-day registration. The panel said the law was passed with “racially discriminatory intent.”

In that decision, the panel eliminated the requirement that counties have the same number of early voting hours as they did in the 2012 presidential race. As a result of that ruling, counties’ elections boards had until Aug. 19 to determine how many hours would be in their early voting schedules. The U.S. Supreme Court looked at the panel’s decision, but a 4-4 vote by the justices resulted in the lower court’s ruling remaining in place.

After that ruling, counties modified early voting plans they previously adopted.

After the panel’s July 29 decision, Dallas Woodhouse, chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, sent emails to county boards of elections, suggesting they make changes to the early voting periods that would aid Republicans, for example, reducing hours and eliminating Sunday voting. Under state law, Republicans hold a majority on each county elections board because the governor is a Republican.

In the wake of all these developments, Beaufort County added 66 more hours to the early voting schedule it adopted in June.

“I don’t know how much y’all have been following it in the news — this Thursday (Sept. 1) there were 30-some odd counties that did not have unanimous plans, so they’re going to battle it out at the State Board of Elections (this past) Thursday,” Hopkins told the board at its meeting Tuesday.

“Craven and Martin and Pamlico (counties) are among them,” board member Tom Payne noted Tuesday.

“There were some that were unanimous, but they reduced (hours) back down to 8 (a.m.) to 5 (p.m.),” Hopkins said.

The board’s decision last month to add hours to the early voting period is being well received by voters, she said.

“We’re getting a ton of good feedback, and from Republicans and Democrats alike. I know that the political scheme across the state changes from county to county. I think we have more Republicans vote here one-stop than we do Democrats. I’ve heard a lot of good things about just how this board stayed above it and they did what the different areas needed. I have not had one person say anything bad about what we did,” Hopkins said.

On Thursday, Jay McRoy, the Republican chairman of the Beaufort County elections board, said, “The Beaufort County board, all three members, look at things as what they feel the citizens of Beaufort County want. We know we have a lot of retired citizens here, and they like to vote early. We also know that coming this November we’ll probably have close to 24,000 people to vote in this election. If we vote a fairly good percentage early, we help ourselves on Election Day and can prevent some long lines on Election Day.”

McRoy said the early voting schedule and satellite voting sites adopted by the board make it convenient for voters and lessens the burden of elections staff at the board’s office in Washington because not all early voters in the county are forced to mark ballots at that office.

“The board members … I feel have the best interest of the voters in mind. We’re trying to do what we think the people want,” McRoy said.

John Tate, a board member, in an email explains how the board adopted the modified early voting schedule: “Before the court decision came down, the Beaufort County Board of Elections had approved and published an early voting plan. After the decision, we had a public meeting to decide what exactly we should do about modifying the plan in accordance with the court’s decision requiring an additional week of early voting.

“After some discussion, we decided that, in order not to confuse voters, we should keep the same extended hours (7:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.) and satellite sites we had previously approved and published, and simply add a week (+1 Saturday) of One-Stop voting at the Board of Elections office (with the same extended hours). Keeping the hours consistent will minimize confusion and extended weekday hours and Saturday voting allows those who wish to vote early the opportunity to do so. Also, adding the extra week of extended hours at the Board of Elections Office but not at satellite sites keeps costs to County taxpayers to a minimum.  We will not have Sunday voting, because our poll workers need a day off.

“We were unanimous because we all agreed on what we thought best for the citizens of Beaufort County in order to give everyone a fair opportunity to register and vote, while keeping costs to a minimum.”

Tom Payne, the only Democrat on the board, said, “I think the board wanted the early voting (one-stop) plan to be consistent and convenient. I think we accomplished this by adding the additional hours.”

In recent weeks, board members made it clear they wanted a schedule that provided maximum voting opportunity at minimal cost.

“Nobody can say they haven’t been given the opportunity to vote in Beaufort County,” Payne said Tuesday.

 

 

Beaufort County’s early voting schedule

As the result of a federal court’s ruling July 29, the Beaufort County Board of Elections, at its Aug. 12 meeting, adopted the following early voting schedule:

During the first week of early voting, The Board of Elections office will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20 through Oct. 22 and Oct. 24 through Oct. 26.

The schedule for the final 10 days of the early voting period follows: extended office hours at the Board of Elections office, 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 27 through Oct. 29 and Oct. 31 through Nov. 5, and from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 5. Three satellite offices (Aurora, Belhaven, and Chocowinity) would be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 2 through Nov. 4 and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 5, 198.5 hours.

The court’s ruling also restored same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting.

State law requires the board to provide early voting for at least 195 hours during the early voting period.