This article was originally published by Carolina Public Press.
By Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press
Carolina Public Press is an independent, in-depth and investigative nonprofit news service for North Carolina.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections made final decisions on early voting plans Thursday, mostly siding with Republican plans in individual counties.
The 11-hour meeting was a culmination of months of county-level debate over how many early voting sites to fund, where to place them and whether to include weekend voting hours.
When county board members unanimously agree on a plan, the State Board approves that plan. But if just one member disagrees, the majority and minority plans go to the state to make a final determination. The state can choose any of the submitted plans, or design one of their own.
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This cycle, 20 contested plans needed a final State Board review.
When making a decision, the state must make sure early voting plans adequately cover the electorate and do not “disproportionately favor any party, racial or ethnic group or candidate.”
Early voting discussions are always tense, but this cycle has been particularly dramatic. Every seat was filled at the State Board of Elections’ all-day meeting.
When all was said and done, the board agreed to drop 16 Sunday early voting days across 13 nonunanimous counties, replacing some with extended Saturday early voting hours.
They voted along party lines in all counties except Jackson, Lee and Rowan counties, where they came to unanimous agreements. Board Republicans attempted to find compromise in Granville and Columbus counties.
Across all 100 early voting plans, voters will have more than 1,300 additional early voting hours and a handful more sites than in the 2022 midterm election.
Party shift and auditor influence
At the top of the meeting, State Board Republican Chair Francis De Luca said he hoped the board never had to hear Dallas Woodhouse’s name again.
Unfortunately for the chair, former auditor election liaison Woodhouse came up over and over again, thanks to his involvement in early voting plan developments across the state.
In late 2024, Republican lawmakers passed a law transferring the power to appoint county election board chairs and State Board of Elections members from the governor to the state auditor.
In effect, this flipped the boards’ majorities from Democratic to Republican in mid-2025. Since, county board decisions have received a higher level of scrutiny. This cycle, 20 early voting plans divided the local boards, the most since the 2016 general election.
While Republican Auditor Dave Boliek’s role is limited to appointments and budget oversight, and election boards are supposed to remain independent, a proliferation of media reports uncovered his office’s significant involvement in county early voting discussions.
Woodhouse was at the center of the controversy. He resigned in July in the midst of media reports concerning his communications with county election officials advocating for certain decisions on their early voting plans.
According to uncovered emails and texts, Woodhouse and other auditor’s office staff advised some Republican county board members on when and where to hold early voting.
In his resignation letter, Woodhouse said every recommendation was “made honestly, thoughtfully, and with integrity.”
“My only objective was to help local boards comply with the law while improving voter access and strengthening public confidence in our elections.”
Others saw Woodhouse and other auditor staff’s communications as promoting outcomes that would help Republican voters or hurt Democratic voters.
At the onset of the meeting, State Board Democrat Siobhan Millen made a motion to ban State Board members from working with the auditor’s office on “any matters that favor any candidate, party, racial, ethnic or age group.”
They needed to figure out whether early voting plans were “authentic grassroots products of the thinking of the 20 county boards of election” or “components of a larger master plan to help the candidates of one party get elected” or “stop the voters of the other party from turning out,” she said.
Her motion failed, but Democrats continued to bring Woodhouse up throughout the discussions.
Sundays in early voting plans
Almost all of the disputed early voting plans involved Sunday voting. While Republicans tend to oppose Sunday voting, Democrats have fought for it in recent years.
Board members must include early voting on the last Saturday before Election Day, but have discretion over whether to hold voting on the first two weekends of North Carolina’s 17-day early voting period.
Republicans often argue that Sunday should be a day of rest for religious purposes, and that skipping Sunday gives election workers a needed break. On the other hand, Democrats say Sunday voting is crucial for working North Carolinians who can’t get to the polls another time and Black North Carolinians who participate in Souls to the Polls events after Sunday worship services.
This cycle, Sunday voting was an element of disagreements in 15 counties: Anson, Chatham, Columbus, Craven, Greene, Harnett, Lee, Nash, Pasquotank, Pitt, Rockingham, Rowan, Scotland, Union and Wayne counties.
State Board Republicans rubber stamped county board plans that cut Sunday voting days in most cases.
For example, Harnett, Nash, Chatham and Wayne counties lost two Sundays. Greene County lost one. Craven and Scotland counties will maintain their 2022 midterm plans, despite Democratic attempts to add weekend days. Rockingham County added a Saturday, but not a Sunday that Democrats wanted.
The discussions grew tense at points, as Democratic State Board member Jeff Carmon asked Republican county board members pointed questions about their communications with the auditor’s office and opposition to Sunday voting.
Union County plan
In the last midterm election, Union County conducted early voting every weekend.
But this cycle, board members could only agree on one Saturday. Democrats advocated for an additional Sunday. Republicans wanted another Saturday instead.
Union County board members faced a budget cut that Republican chair Chris Duggan said “played a large role” in the decision to reduce weekend days.
Board Democrat Michelle Burnette said Sunday voting helps working people, mothers of young children and those with transportation issues.
“The majority has also said that vote by mail is a reasonable alternative,” she added. “Now, many voters have lost confidence in our early voting system and our postal service. That’s just the way it is.”
The State Board voted along party lines to approve the majority Republican plan, which included all Saturdays and no Sundays.
Anson County under pressure
Anson County is facing obstacles of its own. Recent staff turnover has required election staff from the State Board and neighboring counties to fill in.
“It’s everything we can do just to keep the BOE office open at this point,” State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes said.
Republicans put forth an early voting plan with one site and no weekend hours, the minimum allowed under state law. That compares to 2022’s three Saturdays and one Sunday.
At one point, Republican board members considered a second option that would have included Saturday early voting with extended hours. That came after Woodhouse texted the board chair and then-election director, pressuring them to add Saturday hours.
“Fact is GOP voters need hours beyond 8-5 and some Saturdays is good,” he said in one text. Woodhouse said he was trying to appeal to Republicans’ interests to secure more early voting hours.
Thursday, Republican board member Matthew Longworth said they now prefer the no-weekend plan, and only added another option because they weren’t sure whether the minimum plan was allowed.
“A day of rest on the Sabbath is a principle that we follow that was modeled by our Creator,” he said, referring to his Christian faith. “By having Sunday voting, we are requiring people to work on Lord’s Day.”
State Board Democrats countered that Christians don’t have to vote on Sunday, but must keep in mind people of other faiths.
“I appreciate your conviction, but as a governmental body, we can’t push those religious convictions on the greater community,” State Board Democratic member Jeff Carmon said.
Ultimately, the State Board approved the bare minimum plan along party lines, but encouraged county board members to work together to find compromise on additional hours or days.
Compromise early voting plans
The State Board unanimously approved a pair of compromise plans involving Sunday voting.
In Rowan County, the majority plan included no weekend voting, while the minority plan had voting on the first Saturday and Sunday.
Republican Elaine Hewitt said an attempt at compromise took place during the county meeting, which would have included one Sunday. While it failed on the county level, State Board member Stacy “Four” Eggers revived the compromise plan, which was ultimately approved.
Meanwhile, Lee County Republican board member Jay Delancy said he never realized they were allowed to cut Sunday voting until he got a call from Woodhouse asking his opinion on the subject. That planted a seed, he told board members on Thursday.
Woodhouse emailed the Lee County board’s other Republicans with advice on how to get rid of longstanding Sunday early voting. He suggested increasing Saturday hours, then removing Sunday, so they could axe Sunday while still touting more hours of voting.
“We prefer the 8-5 (Saturday hours) as we are going to get s**t removing Sundays in so many places and the overall increase in hours makes it easier to sell plus it is better for voters,” Woodhouse texted Delancy.
As a result, the Republican majority pushed an early voting plan with no additional weekend days, besides the required final Saturday. Democrats proposed holding early voting either the first weekend or just the first Saturday of the early voting period.
Board Democrat Rebecca Whitaker said that cutting Sundays to address poll worker fatigue is a “fabricated solution to a nonexistent problem.”
“Our poll workers and judges have said so,” she said, “It’s a long day. It’s a long couple of weeks. That’s the nature of it. It’s important and it’s temporary. So we’re not asking these folks to do this all year long.”
In a rare show of unity, the State Board unanimously agreed on a plan in the middle, which provided for one Sunday of early voting for three hours.
College campus early voting plans
During this year’s primary elections, students at Western Carolina University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and University of North Carolina at Greensboro fought to secure early voting sites on their campuses.
The Jackson and Guilford county election boards, the State Board and a federal district court denied their request.
In Jackson County, WCU has hosted an early voting site since 2016. It’s consistently placed highest for proportion of same-day registrations, thanks to its large student population.
But in the primary, the new Republican majority axed the campus site, moving from five to four sites. The general election seemed poised for the same outcome, until one Republican member resigned before the vote and a second member, Jay Pavey, called out people in “Raleigh” for pressuring Republicans to exclude WCU again in the general election.
Pavey voted with Democrats to restore a campus site while chair Bill Thompson remained a holdout. Thursday, Pavey pleaded with board members to keep the WCU site. Thompson did not show up.
“If you go through and vote for this minority vote that has been obtained through pressure and obtained through coercion, you’re going to hurt our party,” he said.
Eggers suggested including both the WCU site and the Cullowhee Recreation Center, despite budgetary concerns from Jackson County election director Amanda Allen. Everyone agreed to his plan.
“We’re from Raleigh; we’re here to help you,” Eggers said.
While NC A&T and UNC-G have never hosted early voting sites during midterm elections, they have been used for recent presidential elections. In a 4-1 vote, the Guilford County Board of Elections voted to add sites in Stokesdale and Union Square instead of the campuses.
Board Democrat Carolyn Bunker, the sole minority vote, said students have shown up to every meeting for the past nine months asking for early voting sites. She wanted to reward their effort.
“I never saw that dedication before,” she said.
Eggers said just because students want it doesn’t mean they should get it. He said the majority plan is geographically diverse enough as is. Republicans backed the majority plan, which passed 3-2.
Columbus County sites and days
When Columbus County election board chair Jillian McPherson-Edge floated the idea of cutting all but one of their five usual early voting sites, she met immediate resistance.
Several highly attended meetings later, the board moved back to three sites, and then four.
That shift may be due to a May text thread including McPherson-Edge where Woodhouse told election officials to plan tentatively for three early voting sites in Whiteville, Chadbourn and Tabor City.
“With roughly 37,000 registered voters 3 sites is plenty,” he texted. “I agree 5 is overkill, but we can’t go below 3. Those are the largest towns and geographically diverse. It matches some other key goals as well.”
Woodhouse did not elaborate on those key goals.
Public records also reveal texts between Woodhouse and two auditor’s office employees, Kirk O’Steen and Kelly Mann, discussing Columbus County’s plan.
After Mann said McPherson-Edge is set on one early voting site, O’Steen responds, “Probably needs a closer look. Particularly with that being (Republican State Rep.) Brenden Jones district.” O’Steen asked Woodhouse to look into it.
By the time the plan got to the State Board, the only question was whether to include early voting at the Fair Bluff Fire Department.
During the midday break, several Columbus County voters protested outside the State Board of Elections office. They held signs and chanted, “Save our vote.”
Alonzo Stephens said he doesn’t know what county board members were thinking, but it seemed like they wanted to close polling sites to keep turnout low.
Shutting down the Fair Bluff site would force voters to drive 20 minutes to Whiteville, Justin Burke said.
“A lot of people were decimated by a hurricane in Fair Bluff, and they don’t have a way to get to Whiteville,” he said. “So, how do you early vote then? You don’t.”
Eggers attempted to compromise with board Democrats on the plan. He suggested adding the Fair Bluff site, but keeping the county board’s removed Sunday early voting day. While Democrats did not agree, Republicans approved the plan.
Granville County voting locations
Democrats got another mixed result in Granville County.
In the last midterm, Granville County had three early voting sites. Two were the south — the South Branch Regional Library and Tar River Elementary — while one was more central, in downtown Oxford.
This cycle, former board chair Larue Ulshafer switched things up. He added a site in the north in more rural Stovall, moved the downtown site five miles outside of town and cut the South Branch Library site. He said he was implementing a “vision” he heard the auditor talk about.
Board Democrats opposed the plan, particularly because the downtown and library sites were the most popular.
When county commissioners offered them $60,000 if they agreed to host four early voting sites, the Democrats agreed to add a Stovall site. But the remaining Republicans — Ulshafer resigned shortly after the first meeting — wouldn’t budge.
At the state level, Eggers suggested approving four sites, but not all of Democrats’ picks. He preferred the alternative to the downtown site. In a 4-1 vote, the State Board cosigned his compromise plan. Carmon was the sole dissenting vote.
Early voting begins Oct. 15.
