NC elections board drops Sunday voting in two counties

The North Carolina State Board of Elections split along party lines Wednesday in rejecting Sunday voting for upcoming municipal elections in Davidson and Union counties. The 3-2 Republican majority also approved an update to a plan to address incomplete voter registration records.

The board took no action in its open meeting on settling a US Justice Department lawsuit filed in May. A court document this week suggested that lawsuit would be discussed behind closed doors.

sunday voting split

Davidson County had prior Sunday voting, but Union did not.

“There’s been a divide among folks of, who are, I believe, earnest in their beliefs as to various reasons for and against whether to have Sunday voting,” said board member Stacy “Four” Eggers IV, a Republican. “I know some of my colleagues who’ve served on this board in the past have taken the stance that Sunday is a day of rest, and that there ought not be voting on Sunday at all, whereas others of my colleagues take the position that we should always have Sunday voting and I think each side has merits and I think each has has arguments in favor of it.”

He also said he was personally mindful of the hard work by the county directors, who would be working 17 days straight leading up to the election if Sunday voting was allowed, and made a motion to accept the majority plan put out by the Davidson County Board of Elections, not allowing Sunday voting.

Board member Jeff Carmon, a Democrat, respectfully disagreed. He said Sunday voting had been popular in the past and that it is needed with a growing population.

“I agree with that,” added fellow Democrat Siobhan Miller. “I just also would say I don’t want us to regress back to a previous time and previous voting systems that did not serve the people of North Carolina as well as they have in recent years.”

Carmon and Millen voted against the motion, while Eggers, Chairman Francis De Luca, and Robert Rucho voted for it. De Luca and Rucho are Republicans.

Union County’s majority plan did not include Sunday voting, while the minority plan proposed two Sundays for voting in October. A motion was made to adopt the majority plan.

“Taking into account all that I said previously, and I think as we move forward with all the things that we say we want to do as a board, I think it’s critical that we set a precedent that makes voting easier, makes voting available, and I think we’re going down a dark path when we’re saying we’re taking away Sunday voting,” Carmon said.

Eggers disagreed.

“North Carolina has probably the most accessible elections in the nation with 17 days and mail-in voting that folks can take advantage of, as well as Election Day, and I know we certainly disagree as to our interpretations, but I do know we do so respectfully,” he said.

The board had a similar vote, 3-2, along party lines, to not include Sunday voting in Union County, according to their county board’s majority plan.

The board also voted unanimously to have three early voting sites in Cumberland County.

Updating county board guidance

The board voted 3-2 along party lines on an updated memo regarding its Registration Repair Project.

At its June meeting, the board unanimously approved a three-part plan to collect missing identification numbers of 195,000 voters on the voter rolls.

The first part of the plan had mailers go out in July to approximately 98,000 registered voters who registered after the Help America Vote Act became effective in 2004. Their records apparently lack a driver’s license number or last four digits of the Social Security number, and they have not otherwise complied with HAVA. These voters will vote provisionally until they provide the information.

A second mailing went out to approximately 97,000 voters who have complied with HAVA but for whom election officials do not have the required information on the voter’s current registration record. This list includes voters who initially provided a number that did not validate but subsequently complied with the law by providing an alternative form of ID (called “HAVA ID”) when voting. These voters will continue to vote with regular ballots.

The second part had county boards of elections reviewing records in the voter registration database for “active” voters who may have missing ID numbers and correcting records where the voter provided the information but was not entered by the county board.

The third part will have in-person voters in future elections who lack the required information in the voter-registration database voting with a provisional ballot, which will count as long as the voter provides the required information.

County boards have manually reviewed records and tried to verify voting records. There is now an updated list, and letters are going out to voters who still need to provide a license or Social Security number.

Paul Cox, the board’s general counsel, said the memo would give county boards updated guidance on voters who provided driver’s license or Social Security numbers that weren’t validated. Those voters would receive a second mailing to encourage them to provide information so they could be validated.

“This memo would add the second class of voters to the registration repair project, so that would change the board’s original plan to include those voters,” he said.

More than 20,000 voter registration records have already been fixed under the project.

Millen questioned the possibility that women might have more of an issue than men if they change their names after getting married, which may not match up with their Social Security card.

Cox said it was conceivable that that could happen, or for anyone whose name doesn’t match exactly.

“I don’t know of a better way for us to accomplish this goal, and I certainly don’t want to expose us to another Griffin and Riggs type of situation, and this is the only or least intrusive option that I’m aware of to accomplish this goal,” said Eggers. He was referring to the months-long legal battle over the 2024 state Supreme Court election between Judge Jefferson Griffin and Justice Allison Riggs.

Carmon and Millen voted no on the updated memo, while De Luca, Eggers, and Rucho voted yes.

No action on Justice suit

De Luca said that after discussing some technical and legal details in a very lengthy closed session, the board wasn’t prepared to discuss them publicly.

He did not disclose the topic of the closed session, though a court filing this week suggested that board members would consider a settlement of a lawsuit the US Justice Department filed against the board in May.

The suit challenges alleged deficiencies in North Carolina’s voter registrations. It’s the same issue addressed in the Registration Repair Project.

“Defendants have been implementing a remedial plan to resolve all issues raised in this matter and potentially others,” according to a court filing Monday from state government lawyers representing the elections board. “As a result, Defendants and Plaintiff have continued negotiating in good faith to resolve the instant case.”

“The State Board expects to review a proposed settlement in closed session at its upcoming August 27, 2025 meeting,” the court filing continued. “If approved, Plaintiff and Defendants intend to submit on or about August 28, 2025, a joint motion to this court requesting entry of a Consent Order.”

The elections board is asking US Chief District Judge Richard Myers to extend the deadline for an official response to the lawsuit until Oct. 27. The extension “will allow time for the Court to review and rule on the forthcoming motion to approve the consent order without the need for further requests for extension of time, further briefing, or the use of judicial resources,” state lawyers wrote.

The State Board of Elections voted unanimously in June to move forward with the plan. It involves contacting voters to secure information missing from their voter registration records.

The Justice Department filed suit against election officials in May to prompt the collection of the missing information. The suit accused election officials of violating the federal Help America Vote Act by failing to maintain accurate voter lists.

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