By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com
The local debate over Sunday’s inclusion in the early voting schedule for the 2026 election reached the Lee County Board of Commissioners on Monday
Lee County Elections Director Jane Fawcett spoke to the board at the invitation of Commissioner Robert Reives Sr., a Democrat who’d requested an update on the county’s early voting schedule. Fawcett explained that state law requires local elections boards be to unanimous in adopting early voting schedules; if they can’t the North Carolina State Board of Elections makes the decision. The state board is scheduled to meet in Raleigh on Thursday morning to do so.
Reives questioned whether the option to allow for voting on a Sunday during the early voting period was on the table; Fawcett replied that the deadline for local elections boards to make decisions about early voting schedules had passed in late July.
Fawcett did, however, forward to the state board three early voting plans which the elections board considered. Two of them included a Sunday in the early voting schedule, one other didn’t. Reives questioned why “we’re paying for (the election), and someone else is making the decision” and also whether the elections board members had been “influenced by anybody.”
Democratic Commissioner Cameron Sharpe asked why the elections board had chosen Sunday as a day to remove from the early voting schedule.
“Why not a Monday? Or why not a Tuesday?” he asked.
Elections Board Chairman Tom Duncan, a Republican, said “for the most part it had to do with our poll workers,” explaining that chief judges have to be present for 11 and a half hours of early voting on weekdays, as well as more time to set up and break down.
“We decide which weekend days, if any, to select in addition” to the 12 days made mandatory by state law, Duncan said. “Fatigue is measured over time. There is no relief for the hours for our chief judges. However, we can control the scheduling of the days off.”
Reives continued to press Duncan for an answer about how Sunday was the specific day removed from the early voting schedule.
“It wasn’t purposefully removed,” Duncan replied.
Public records obtained by The Rant in July showed that Dallas Woodhouse, then a liaison to county elections boards from the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor, had specifically recommended eliminating Sunday voting in separate communications with Duncan and Republican Elections Board Member Jay Delancy.
In a May text message to Delancy marked “Confidential,” Woodhouse suggested eliminating Sunday voting while increasing Saturday hours, writing that “we are going to get shit removing Sundays in so many places” and that the additional hours would make the change “easier to sell.”
“I think we are in one accord on this,” Delancy replied.
Duncan and Delancy both acknowledged their contacts with Woodhouse during the Elections Board’s July 13 meeting. Duncan said Woodhouse “started on me about the Sunday voting stuff” but said Woodhouse “never pushed me. He just gave me statistics.” Delancy said Woodhouse had informed him that Sunday voting wasn’t required by law.
Delancy later told The Rant that he and Woodhouse were “in one accord” on “overall the principle of getting rid of Sunday voting,” citing his religion and the burden Sunday voting can place on election workers.
Delancy wasn’t at Monday’s meeting.
Democratic Elections Board Member Becky Whitaker told the commissioners Monday that she preferred having each day of the week available at least once during the early voting period, including Sunday.
“There may be some folks that work six days a week, and Sunday might work for them,” she said. “There might be some folks, Tuesday’s the only day they can go. That’s something we were not able to agree on this time, and that’s why it’s going to the state board.”
The issue also came up during the commissioners’ public comment period Monday, when three residents urged that Sunday remain part of the county’s early voting schedule.
Gladys McAuley pointed out that the elections board’s failure to agree unanimously on a plan happened after Woodhouse contacted “two members of our local board of elections and recommended eliminating Sunday voting.”
“Our senior citizens – Republicans, Democrats and independents – are being denied the opportunity to vote,” she said. “Many of our elders depend on members of their churches, family and friends to take them to the polls to cast their votes after Sunday services. Whether Lee County offers Sunday voting should not be decided by an unelected official in Wake County or by the agenda of any political party.”
Jan Tart also argued that decisions about the early voting schedule should be made locally.
“Lee County’s taxpayers fund our local elections,” she said. “We understand our community’s work schedules, our religious traditions, transportation challenges, and voting needs. During public comment, every person who spoke asked the local board of elections to keep Sunday voting. These local voices should carry more weight than the preferences of some outside of our county. Every other day of the week is represented in the early voting calendar. There’s no justification for intentionally excluding Sunday.”
Shawn Williams, president of the Lee County NAACP, asked for a clearer explanation of what eliminating Sunday voting would accomplish.
“What problem does eliminating Sunday voting solve?” he asked.
Toward the end of the discussion, Reives reiterated his question about whether the board had been influenced by someone else.
“I know that something has taken place, I’m just trying to get to the bottom of it,” he said. “But if you’re not going to answer, so be it.”