Planning for Changes to Early Voting in North Carolina

Counties in North Carolina are preparing to incorporate major changes to the election process required by a new state law that has attracted national attention. In late July, Forsyth County approved a plan to meet some of the new requirements.

The law reduces the allowable days for early voting from 17 to 10 but still requires each county to provide at least the same number of hours of early voting that were offered in the 2010 midterm elections.

In 2010, Forsyth County had 423 hours of early voting at eight locations, including the Board of Elections office. In July, officials posted three early voting proposals for the November 2014 election on the county election website, including potential locations and hours. The proposals ranged from 433.5 hours to 444 hours and nine or 10 locations, including the board office.

None of the proposals included early voting on a Sunday, but the Board of Elections reached an agreement to include four hours of Sunday voting at the elections office. The plan, pending state approval, creates nine satellite locations plus the elections office.

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