Two changes in Columbus County elections will be decided by the State Board of Elections.
In split party line votes Monday, the Elections Board voted to close the Fair Bluff early poll, and to have a single Saturday of early polls. Since neither vote was unanimous, the final decisions will rest with the State Board.
Ransom was the third busiest early poll in the last general election, while Fair Bluff has consistently been the slowest in the county.
Elections Board Chair Jillian McPherson-Edge said Monday’s meeting was far less disruptive than the previous meeting in June, when hundreds of residents turned out to protest a proposal to close Fair Bluff and the Ransom Center. The county fire marshal enforced the maximum capacity for the building at Monday’s meeting. A number of spectators gathered in the parking lot to hear the results of the board decisions.
At the direction of state officials, elections officials across North Carolina began discussing the possibility of closing under-performing early polls earlier this year. Election Day poll locations are unchanged, McPherson-Edge emphasized. The Fair Bluff and Ransom polls were the first to be considered for closure because they had lower early poll turnout, and have to be leased at $100 per day in addition to the other operating costs, she explained.
The elections board had multiple complaints based on misinformation that the county was considering closing all early polls except the one at the Board of Elections office.
“That was never seriously considered,” McPherson-Edge said. “Just because something is mentioned or discussed does not mean it will be voted on.
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice accused the board of planning to close all but one polling place in a press release before the June 3 meeting. The SCSJ credited voters who “showed up in force” with pressuring the board to drop the single-poll idea. Representatives of SCSJ accused the board of elections of voter suppression and hinted at lawsuits over any reduction in polling places.
In a statement released after Monday’s meeting, the Patriotic Millionaires political organization maintained its position that the board planned to close “all but one of the sites in Whiteville,” the statement read.
“While we are relieved that members of the Columbus County Board of Election had the necessary change of heart needed to vote on record to keep at least four voting locations open, the fact remains that we should not be in this position to begin with.
“The Board of Elections attempted to suppress thousands of voters in one of the most influential counties in North Carolina and got caught. That is because people in our communities showed up to meetings, knocked doors, made phone calls, and applied the necessary pressure to force the Board’s hand and abandon their original plan to close four, then two, and now just one of the five sites. This compromise is not guaranteed, however, as the State Board of Elections now gets to determine from Raleigh what will happen in Chadbourn, Fair Bluff, Whiteville, Tabor City, and Riegelwood.”
The Elections Board also could not come to a unanimous decision on the planned schedule for early voting.
State law requires early voting begin no sooner than the third Tuesday before an election, and end by 3 p.m. on the last Saturday before an election but leaves the schedule to local discretion. Republican members of the board rejected both proposals that would have allowed Sunday voting, and Democrat members of the board voted against a plan to allow one Saturday poll.
Both the closure of the Fair Bluff early poll and the voting schedule will be reviewed by the state Board of Elections since the board had split votes on each issue, McPherson-Edge said. A decision is expected by early August.
