Tomorrow the Orange County Board of Elections will adopt a plan for early voting for the fall election. The Board will consider both the locations and hours for early voting. When it comes to locations, the board should keep the same voting locations used during the spring primary to maintain consistency. After considering a number of options, the plan adopted for the primary included five early voting sites, including a location in rural Orange County at Master’s Garden Preschool, and a location adjacent to UNC’s campus at North Carolina Hillel. I’ve been a strong advocate for securing a site that is accessible to the faculty, staff, and students who attend UNC, and while NC Hillel might not be the perfect site, it is accessible to pedestrians from UNC and we should maintain stability from the primary.
The board has also recently received a request to expand early voting hours on the weekends. The board should seriously consider the request, and I hope they approve a plan that includes early voting on Sunday. Religious Jewish residents in Orange County deserve a non-weekday voting option that doesn’t fall on Saturday, their holy day. Residents in our county have diverse work hours, and providing early voting all seven days of the week increases access to the ballot box.
Voting should be easy and convenient. The Orange County Board of Elections should maintain the current locations for early voting, and adopt a schedule that expands voting access on the weekends.
* This blog post originally ran on The Commentators on WCHL on July 21st.
Issues:
