Early voting doesn’t look the same across NC. How are days and locations decided?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- County boards decide early voting days and locations across North Carolina.
- Five-member county boards must adopt plans or defer disputes to the State.
- 2024 turnout showed three in four voters used early voting across the state.
Like the vast majority of states, North Carolina offers an early voting period ahead of Election Day.
In-person early voting is the most popular voting method in North Carolina by far, handily beating out mail-in ballots and Election Day voting in the last five presidential elections.
North Carolina also allows same-day registration during the early voting period, giving new voters an opportunity to register and cast their ballot in the same visit.
But while the state guarantees some access to early voting everywhere, counties have the authority to determine when and where early voting takes place — meaning access doesn’t look exactly the same statewide.
How do counties decide on an early voting plan?
Prior to every election, each of North Carolina’s 100 county boards of elections must vote on an early voting plan.
If these five-member boards fail to reach a unanimous agreement on the plan, the dispute gets kicked up to the State Board of Elections, which has the final say.
Controversial legislation passed last year has flipped all of North Carolina’s state and local election boards to Republican control, giving the party a 3-2 majority.
When do counties have to hold early voting?
North Carolina’s early voting period begins on the third Thursday before an election and ends at 3 p.m. on the last Saturday before the election.
During weekdays, state law sets out the requirements for when early voting sites are required to be open.
Generally, polling places must be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. But, sites at the county board of elections office can close at 5 p.m. — an option that about 10 smaller counties have chosen to take this year.
But on weekends, things get more complicated — and sometimes lead to conflict among members of county boards of elections.
The state requires counties to offer early voting from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the last Saturday before the election. Every other weekend day is left to the county’s discretion.
Whichever days they choose to add must have uniform hours at all sites across the county.
Historically, many counties have chosen to hold early voting on Sundays, a practice which has prompted popular “souls to the polls” efforts in which churchgoers vote after services.
But North Carolina Republicans have long sought to limit Sunday voting, a goal that may be advanced in parts of the state this year given the party’s new majorities on each election board.
Where do counties have to hold early voting?
State law generally only requires counties to open one early voting site — housed at the county board of elections office.
However, most counties choose to offer additional sites, which must be approved by the State Board of Elections. These additional sites are generally required to be government buildings, though exceptions can be made.
Counties can also choose to forego the site at the county board office if they offer an alternative that is “reasonably proximate” to the office, according to state law.
Where do early voting plans stand now?
For the March 3, 2026, primary, counties were required to submit their early voting plans to the State Board of Elections by Dec. 19, 2025.
The State Board of Elections approved early voting plans for 87 counties that reached unanimous decisions earlier this month.
Twelve counties had non-unanimous votes, meaning their disputes will have to be resolved by the state board at a later meeting.
Most of those disputes deal with disagreements over on-campus voting sites or Sunday voting.
This story was originally published December 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
