Elections board to consider seeking more one-stop voting sites

The Craven County Board of Elections plans to consider an application for two additional one-stop voting sites and uniform hours at all of them.

Board members have been working with a State Board of Elections technician on the plan. They will consider it Friday at a special meeting at 2 p.m.. It was originally set for 3 p.m. but rescheduled.

"We are going to request two additional sites and consistent hours at all locations," said Esther Hardin, elections board chairman. Those new sites are in Cove City and in the Grantham Precinct, where the county's largest number of registered voters live.

"We are still looking at five sites and working to finalize the grant application and budget," Hardin said.

On Thursday afternoon, Hardin and member Ray Wood checked a site in Cove City and the one at West Craven Performing Arts Center for access to the handicapped. The Performing Arts Center will be a one-stop location and the Vanceboro Volunteer Fire and Rescue Station will be the Election Day polling place.

"This is one of the last pieces of the one-stop plan," said Hardin. The deadline for submitting it is 5 p.m. Friday. 

As now written, she said, the grant application will not ask for Help America Vote Act money for another Saturday for one-stop voting. It does ask for additional hours at the usual one-stop locations at the West Craven Performing Arts Center, Havelock-Craven County Library, and the board of elections office in Craven County Administration Building.

If the grant request is approved, those locations and the new sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays beginning Oct. 16 and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 1, the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election. The county would not be asked for more money nor committed to opening those locations in the future as the board originally thought.

"Consideration has been given to all Craven County voters and what best suits them," said Rosemary Blizzard, the state's southeast district elections technician. "We looked at all locations so one site is not getting used to the point that it is overcrowded. Those selected are well spaced out."

The grant application must have unanimous approval of the county board or be approved by the State Board of Elections and the U.S. Justice Department.