You Could Have Less time to Early Vote

CHARLOTTE, NC — Voters packed the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections office Monday evening.

The board voted two to one to reduce the amount of time you have to vote early.

If the State Board of Elections approves the changes, it could mean longer lines on election day and possibly smaller voter turnout numbers.

Voters yelled out during the meeting, disagreeing as board leaders whittled down early voting time.

“I am very passionate about our elections,” said Cindy Foster.

Fourth Circuit judges overturned North Carolina’s voter ID law which required counties to keep the same amount of hours of early voting as they had in the 2012 election.

Now, it’s up to each county to decide how many hours and locations voters will have this year.

In 2012, voters used 22 locations to cast ballots in both weeks of early voting.

“I’m saying it’s very difficult to monitor that amount of sites for that many days,” said Board of Elections Chairman Mary Summa.

Now you could have six locations to vote during week one and 22 week two of early voting.

Sunday hours would be cut to five: 1:00 to 6:00 pm.

Summa voted to cut that due to suspected fraud.

“I’m not going to get into how many cases of fraud,” Summa replied to voters who asked to document that fraud.

“We have a highly publicized election that’s coming up. More people come now than ever before, and we need to give you the access to vote,” said Board of Elections member Carol Williams said, “A reduction of hours should not even of been on the table.”

“Trying to take away access to vote is unpatriotic,” said Charlotte NAACP President Corine Mack.

Mack is disappointed the board is trying to limit Sunday early voting. She’s concerned it targets churches that take elderly voters to the polls.

“End of the day, we need to have everyone having easy access and the ability to get out to vote,” said Mack.

If the State Board of Elections accepts this plan, in Mecklenburg County, you will have 238 fewer hours to vote this election.

In 2012, the board says voters had 2,742 hours to vote. The new plan would change that to 2,504 hours.

Williams says she will submit her own plan. She told the crowd Monday that she wants to add back the same hours as the 2012 election. State board members will decide which plan to accept.

Governor Pat McCrory is asking judges to reinstate the voter ID law writing in part, “Allowing the Fourth Circuit’s ruling to stand creates confusion among voters and poll workers and it disregards our successful rollout of Voter ID in the 2016 primary elections. The Fourth Circuit’s ruling is just plain wrong and we cannot allow it to stand. We are confident that the Supreme Court will uphold our state’s law and reverse the Fourth Circuit.”