ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County’s Board of Elections, still operating one Republican short of full membership, was asked to alter its early voting sites for the Sept. 10 special election at its regular meeting Tuesday.
At several points in the meeting, the request was made. Only during the director’s report from interim director Valeria McKoy was a motion moved forward, and it failed for lack of a second.
The board one week earlier decided to have early voting at the 301 S. Cypress St. office of the Board of Elections, and at the Municipal Building in Tar Heel, at 14867 N.C. 87. McKoy said the deadline to submit the plan was that day, and the state Board of Elections had granted Bladen County until the following day, July 3, to send in their information.
The meeting was posted in the Bladen Journal newspaper legals June 28; a news story was also in the print edition and posted online to BladenJournal.com.
The board office is in North Carolina’s District 7. The special election is for District 9. It is a rarity for only one of the two districts to have an election; a site near the board office — the Bladen County Public Library — has usually been used for early voting.
While the previous meeting was attended by four people, more than half a dozen turned out Tuesday. They sought to have the board add early voting sites in Bladenboro and at the Bethel precinct in Dublin. Ray Britt, a former election board member and current county commissioner, said he had a signed petition with the request but it was not presented to the board.
Later, a letter from Rufus Duckworth was shared with the board. It was not read aloud. Duckworth, in the letter, wrote that he was unable to attend and was sending the letter as an individual and not in his capacity as mayor of Bladenboro.
He wrote in part, “I can not understand why the two sites were chosen as they look as if it is to suppress the voters of both Dublin and Bladenboro, both of which are some of the heaviest voting areas of the District 9 within our county.”
He added, “It would seem that as the Bladen County Board of Elections, each of you would want to get as high a turnout as possible during each election, and the best way to do that is to select early voting sites that allow the most voters to use them as easy as possible and the best way to do that is have the few early sites closest to the majority of the voters.”
His letter also accused the board of making partisan decisions. Duckworth is unaffiliated.
Emery White, the lone Republican on a board with Democrats Louella Thompson, Patsy Sheppard and Deborah Belle, moved to add early voting in Bladenboro. The motion died for lack of a second.
At the end of the meeting, when a second segment for comments from the public was opened, Britt again asked for early voting in Bladenboro and Bethel precincts.
The board is close to approving a list of poll workers for the Sept. 10 election. This contest is for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing North Carolina’s Ninth District, the controversial and highly publicized race that the state Board of Elections failed to verify in November.
That race is between state Sen. Dan Bishop of the Republican Party, Dan McCready of the Democratic Party, Allen Smith of the Green Party, and Jeff Scott of the Libertarian Party.
For the Nov. 5 election, when Bladen County towns decide their representation, the board will seek the input of municipalities on what hours to operate early voting. Each town as the option to opt out of early voting.
The board has also affirmed the second Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. as its regular time to convene.