People in several Western North Carolina counties will have fewer options for places to cast their ballots in the March primary.
The state Board of Elections approved the majority of early voting plans, proposed by county boards to set the precinct locations, before the holiday. But the dozen counties whose boards couldn’t agree on a plan went before the state board on Tuesday morning to argue about times and locations of early voting sites. From Western North Carolina, Jackson and Madison Counties both sent officials to Raleigh to make a decision about early voting polling places for the March 3rd primary which starts on Feb. 12.
Most disputes centered on Sunday voting hours and the number of sites that would be used during early voting.
The board granted the proposals of the Republican majority on the Jackson County Board of Elections to decrease the number of early voting sites to four and remove the voting site at Western Carolina University’s campus.
Students turned out to protest this move at a previous Jackson County elections meeting in December. Several dozen people spoke in favor of keeping two sites saying that early voting on campus allows for same-day voter registration. An increasing number of early voting sites in the state since 2008 has increased the number of young people voting, NC Local previously reported.
At the state meeting, Chair Bill Thompson pushed back against the idea that getting rid of the site on campus was “suppression or disenfranchisement” of student voters.
“We’re not talking about kindergarteners who need help tying their shoes and opening their milk cartons” he said. “I am confident that they will be able to get the 6/10 of a mile from the edge of campus to rec center.”
The state board did drive-time testing to see how long voters would have to drive to the early voting sites and found little difference between the two plans, with the Republican's majority plan voters would have to drive a maximum of over 40 minutes to vote.
Board member Betsy Swift said the close proximity of the Democratic proposed plan helped increase student turnout.
In North Carolina, administration of early voting sites is primarily the responsibility of local election boards, through funding appropriated from the county commissioners. Funds are used to pay election staff, buy voting machines and rent precinct spaces. In Jackson County, commissioners appropriated $716,999 for Elections for July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
Thompson said reducing Jackson County’s early voting option to one in-person site would save the county board $20,000.
Swift disputed the amount, saying the cost savings would be closer to $6,000.
“Which begs the question, What is the money for if not to serve the voters of Jackson County?” Swift asked.
Jackson County Board of Elections Director Amanda Allen told NC Local it was hard to pinpoint the exact amount of money that would be saved.
“The cost savings are very much a moving target. The $20,000 estimate is a rough calculation of expenses based on previous election figures. I can't confirm a specific savings, but consolidation of sites does not necessarily indicate a complete loss of expenses,” Allen said on Wednesday. She added that the Board also recently increased the pay rate for precinct workers..
The state board voted 3-2 to get rid of the on-campus site, leaving four early voting sites:
- The Jackson County Board of Elections Building
- The Cashiers Rec Center
- The Qualla Community Building
- The Cullowhee Recreation Center.
Board eliminates university campus sites
Western Carolina was not the only university that saw its on-campus polling place removed. In total, Republicans on the State Board of Elections rejected plans to include early voting sites at four different universities: UNCG, NC A&T, WCU, and Elon University.
NC A&T State University students protested at the meeting after the board removed the polling place on the Greensboro campus.
Students protested during the meeting calling for a polling place at NC A&T. (Screenshot of livestream)
Chairman Francis De Luca threatened to call the cops on students if they didn’t leave, according to an NC Newsline report.
One student said the outcome would have been different if the group was white, the report said. De Luca said he resented that suggestion. At one point, the board shut off the audio to the livestream, keeping remote participants from hearing what occurred.
This wasn’t the only unorthodox part of the Guilford County presentation. No representatives for the majority plan attend the meeting, and a former state Supreme Court justice argued for the Democratic-backed plan.
Former State Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr argued that limiting early voting did not send the right message to voters, particularly young people.
He quoted current Chief Justice Paul Newby in a number of past cases stating, “At our nation's inception, the founders warned that unduly restricting ballot access would make illusory the right to vote.”
The minority plan meeting material included a letter from a dozen “non-partisan pro-democracy groups” calling for polling places that are accessible for college students at NC A&T, the largest public historically Black college in the nation and UNC Greensboro.
Republican board member Stacy “Four” Eggers IV of Boone said the proposed 10 sites were in excess of the 2022 primary early voting plan which included eight early voting sites. The minority plan for Guilford asked for 15 sites.
Siobhan O’Duffy Millen, a Democrat on the state board, recommended a compromise to move some of the sites to college campuses.
Carolyn Bunker, Democratic member of the Guilford County Board of Elections, said that the main issue was the location of the 10 sites.
“They forgot that people live in southeast Greensboro and the southern part of High Point,” Bunker said.
Millen asked the board's lawyer about precedent surrounding a 2014 Watauga County decision to remove a polling site from Appalachian State University’s campus.
”Is it safe to say that with legal background at college campus - we’re putting a sticker on back that says ‘Sue me?,” Millen asked. Adam Steele, general counsel for the NC State Board of Elections said that there are different variables for each election that can be considered and declined to give legal advice during the session.
Ultimately the board voted 3-2 with the majority plan. The 10 Guilford early voting sites will be:
- The Old County Courthouse
- The Agricultural Center
- The Brown Rec. Center
- The Bur-Mill Club
- The Craft Rec. Center
- The Deep River Rec. Center
- Jamestown Town Hall
- The Leonard Rec. Center
- The Lewis Rec. Center
- The Roy B. Culler Jr. Senior Center.
How far should you have to drive to cast a ballot?
In Madison County, the debate over voting sites included an exploration of the transportation hurdles across the 450-square miles of county.
The Republican-backed proposal for a single voting site, at the AB Tech Campus in Marshall, would have required some residents to drive more than an hour to cast an early ballot, according to drive-time analysis shared in the meeting documents.
Below: This drive-time map was shared as the majority plan from the Madison County Board of Elections. (NCSBE)
“The travel burden of this magnitude is likely to suppress voters,” Madison County Board Secretary Brian Ball told the board on Tuesday. “Concentrating voting into a single site may shift demand to election day precincts and increase congestion countywide.”
Democrat Millen said she received more letters about Madison County than any other. A bridge in Hot Springs that is still under construction from Helene damage requires an hour to get to Marshall, she said.
Absentee ballots were recommended as an alternative for those who can’t travel, but Ball said absentee voting poses another Helene-related burden: the post office in Marshall is still closed.
Republican member Eggers suggested a modified plan with two locations, adding in a Beech Glen Community Center precinct to the AB Tech site.
“My heart does break for Madison County because of the devastation that Helene imposed on you folks. I know that Marshall is a long way from being fully recovered and you are in my prayers for that,” Eggers said.
The non-unanimous proposals from the local board also disagreed on Sunday voting hours.
Madison County Elections Board Chair Dwight Smathers said the issue was one of pocketbooks and personnel. He shared some calculations about the cost per voter in 2022 midterm for 1391 voters.
Smathers said the 2022 election administration required $34.35 to be spent per voter.
“If we had one instead of three sites, we would have spent $5.25, a much more reasonable sum,” Smathers told the board.
Madison County commissioners approved funding for three sites, as it did in 2010, 2018 and 2022, according to a letter submitted by the minority.
Ball said Madison County also has sufficient experienced professional staff to operate three sites, as demonstrated in prior elections.
The state board found a compromise between the Republican-proposed single site and the Democratic-backed three site plan and approved two early voting sites unanimously:
- AB Tech Madison campus
- The Beech Glen Community Center
Casting your ballot
For voters worried about making it to an early voting site before the end of February, absentee ballots are available. Earlier this week, local boards began mailing out absentee ballots to those who requested them, and the deadline for requests is Feb. 17.
Mark your calendar with other important election dates:
- Feb. 6, 2026: Voter registration deadline (5 p.m.).*
- Feb. 12, 2026: In-person early voting begins.
- Feb. 17, 2026: Absentee ballot request deadline (5 p.m.).*
- Feb. 28, 2026: In-person early voting ends (3 p.m.).
- March 3, 2026: Primary Election Day.
- March 3, 2026: Absentee ballot return deadline (7:30 p.m.).*
Find your early voting location here. You can also find your sample ballot here. Don’t forget to bring your required photo identifcation. Find more information on what forms of identification can be used here.
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
