North Carolina’s State Board of Elections opened heated debate Thursday over 20 disputed county early-voting plans, with Republicans expected to use their new majority to decide whether the changes take effect this fall.
Many proposals would eliminate Sunday voting or move and remove sites in majority-Black, Hispanic or college communities; critics said the changes target Democratic-leaning voters, while Republicans argued they increase total early-voting hours and ease weekend staffing strains.
The sharpest fights covered Sunday voting in counties including Chatham, Lee, Harnett, Nash and Wayne, plus proposed site cuts in Spring Lake, Oxford and Creedmoor and campus-site disputes at Western Carolina, UNC-Greensboro and N.C. A&T.
The clash comes after a post-2024 law shifted election administration from the Democratic governor to the Republican state auditor, giving Republicans 3-2 control of county boards statewide; 80 of 100 county plans passed with bipartisan support.
Sunday voting carries legal and political weight in North Carolina because Black churches use 'souls to the polls' drives, and a federal appeals court previously struck down a 2013 GOP election law for targeting Black voters 'with almost surgical precision.'