After sparring over potential locations, Wake board picks early voting sites

The Wake County Board of Elections on Thursday expanded the number of presidential-year, general election early voting sites ahead of a number of key races at the top and bottom of the local ballot.

Wake residents will have 10 days and 20 places to vote early in this year’s general elections. The county had 16 early voting sites for the 2012 general election.

Wake voters will help elect a president, U.S. senator and governor on Nov. 8. They’ll also vote on state Congressional races, municipal races and a half-cent sales tax referendum that, if approved, would launch a massive new countywide transit system.

The board’s move comes three months after 56,000 Wake voters cast early ballots in primary races, blowing away the previous early-voting record of 40,000 in 2012. Still, it wasn’t enough to temper long Election Day lines for the spring primary.

Early voting will start Thursday, Oct. 27 and end on Saturday, Nov. 5. Voting hours will vary depending on location.

The Wake board found it difficult to agree on early voting sites and hours while also complying with a new state law requiring North Carolina counties to offer the same number of early voting hours this election as the last presidential election year – but in 10 days. Wake in 2012 offered 1,658 voting hours over 17 early voting days.

Board chairman Brian Ratledge sparred with the other two board members, Ellis Boyle and Mark Ezzell, over whether the county should offer a voting site at N.C. State University and allow for voting on Sundays.

Boyle and Ezzell supported Sunday voting and successfully lobbied for a voting site at the university’s Creative Services building, saying many students lack transportation and free time to vote on Election Day.

At nearby Pullen Park in Raleigh this March, about 200 people were still waiting to vote at 7 p.m., 30 minutes before the primary polls closed. The precinct is one of Wake’s largest polling places as it covers on-campus housing, and N.C. State was busing students in every 15 minutes. As a result, Wake was among three Triangle counties that didn’t post final vote counts until after 11 p.m.

Ratledge said he wanted to keep polls closed on Sunday to give workers a break. He also opposed a voting site at N.C. State, saying students “are creative” and would find a way to get to one of the other locations.

“N.C. State students aren’t the only voters in the county,” Ratledge said. His remarks often drew outbursts from the crowd, many of whom spoke out for a voting site at the university.

Ratledge lost out in the end and the Wake County Democratic Party, which lobbied for more early voting sites, celebrated the adopted early voting schedule. Prior to the meeting, the Wake County Republican Party encouraged the board to limit early voting, saying it wasted money.

On weekdays, the Wake County Board of Elections office in downtown Raleigh will be open for early voting from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the other 19 locations will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

On Saturday, Oct. 29, the elections office will be open from 8:30 to 1 p.m., while all other locations open at the same time but close at 2 p.m.

On Sunday, Oct. 30, all early voting site locations will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. On Saturday, Nov. 5, all early voting sites will open at 9 a.m. and close at 1 p.m.

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 8:17 PM with the headline "After sparring over potential locations, Wake board picks early voting sites."