One-stop voting kicks off on Wednesday, with three sites open and additional days offered leading up to the Nov. 6 general election.
A local one-stop voting plan for the general election was unanimously approved back in July by the four-member Sampson Board of Elections. According to the plan, early voting will be held at the Sampson County Board of Elections Office, located at 120 County Complex Road, Building F, as well as two off-sites at Garland Town Hall, 190 S. Church Ave., Garland, and Newton Grove Fire Station, at 313 Weeksdale St., Newton Grove.
The two off-site locations is down from four off-site locations in 2016 and three off-sites in 2014. Less sites and more hours was a compromise made by the local elections board, one of the many that faced a July deadline to come to an agreement or leave their plan in the hands of the nine-member N.C. State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement.
Sampson’s schedule will include the same hours for the main site at the Board of Elections as well as the two additional sites. Those hours will include 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from Wednesday, Oct. 17, through Friday, Nov. 2; 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on two Saturdays (Oct. 20, Oct. 27); 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28; and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3.
The only day in the 18-day period when early voting will not be available in Sampson is Sunday, Oct. 21.
In all, polls will be open for more than 500 hours for one-stop voters.
In June, the N.C. General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto to enact SB 325, which alters the schedule for early voting in North Carolina. The early voting period now begins a day earlier, on the third Wednesday before Election Day (Oct. 17). It was set to end the Friday before Election Day (Nov. 2), but the last Saturday of early voting (Nov. 3) was later added back.
On each weekday during the early voting period, all additional one-stop sites in the county must be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the new law. In short, any day a one-stop site in the county is open, all one-stop sites in the county must be open on that day. Weekends hours may vary as long as the number of hours at each site is the same.
The Sampson board chose to keep hours the same at all sites, weekday and weekend, to cut down on confusion.
A second option presented back in the summer by Sampson Board of Elections director Ashley Tew would have offered four off-sites in Garland, Newton Grove, Roseboro and Plain View, but due to the funds necessary to outfit and operate those sites, it would have come with the elimination of all weekend voting other than the required final Saturday.
Ultimately, the board members agreed that they wanted to have weekend voting, rather than operate four off-sites as was done two years ago. Cost was also a huge factor. The total cost to operate the approved three sites will be roughly $30,000, to include total wages for poll workers and mileage costs. Under the five-site proposal — Board of Elections Office and four additional sites — the estimated cost would have hovered around $50,000, Tew noted.
In 2016, The Board of Elections Office saw 9,224 early voters, while Plain View has 2,139, Roseboro had 1,975, Newton Grove had 1,150 and Garland had 740. In 2014, the numbers were similar, although Plain View wasn’t a site then. That year, the Board of Election Office had 4,146 early voters, compared to 904 in Roseboro, 696 in Newton Grove and 404 in Garland.
The four board members previously expressed their desire to have at least one site in the northern end and one in the southern end.
While Garland has voted the least of any off-sites in both 2014 and 2016, it was seen as a better option for voters in central and southern Sampson as Roseboro is going through some detours with the N.C. 24 project. Newton Grove was considered a better candidate over Plain View, which was new as of 2016 even though it voted the most of any of the four off-sites.
Those with questions are encouraged to call the Sampson County Board of Elections, at 910-592-5796.