Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, a Henderson County Republican, makes the case for additional early voting sites during House floor debate on Thursday October 24. (NCGA Screen grab)
Local elections officials in Henderson and McDowell counties are scrambling to open more early voting sites by Tuesday.
The legislature passed a law this week requiring 13 mountain counties to have at least one early voting site for every 30,000 registered voters. Most of the counties meet the requirement, but McDowell must open another location, and Henderson must open three more.
Up until Friday, McDowell and Henderson each had one early voting site.
“This is a quick pivot that we’re going to have to pull off,” state Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell told reporters Friday. Elections will carry out the law as it is written, she said.
Elections directors in those counties have been working to find more early voting sites and staff to work them, she said.
The Republican National Committee had threatened to sue the Henderson County Board of Elections, the news website NOTUS reported.
The McDowell elections board had previously rejected a Republican request to open a second site, but the McDowell News reported Friday that the board voted Friday to open a second location.
Most of the western counties hit hard by Hurricane Helene are solidly Republican and votes from those counties will be crucial in close statewide races.
Under the new law, the additional early voting sites must be open from Tuesday through the end of the early voting period on Saturday, Nov. 2.
During the debate on the bill in the House on Thursday, one Democratic legislator said she was told one county’s elections workers were going to resign over the requirement for added sites.
Brinson Bell said no local workers have resigned. Elections officials from those counties called legislators to talk about the challenges created by quick changes in election law and procedure.
“This is tough,” Brinson Bell said. “It is another big ask at a time when they are already stretched thin. But they are committed, and they are committed to the voters and making sure that they are able to serve the voters and that’s what they will do.”