The North Carolina State Board of Elections adopted an early voting plan for Lee County on Thursday, going with a plan that includes one Sunday.
Lee was one of 12 counties in North Carolina whose local elections board couldn’t agree unanimously on an early voting plan, which is required by state law. The state board met Thursday to decide a schedule for Lee and those other counties.
The state board considered three plans Lee County’s elections board had looked at, ultimately choosing “Plan C” – which is the minimum amount of hours required by state law during the early voting period, plus one Sunday. The board also considered “Plan A,” which is the minimum number of hours required by state law, and “Plan D,” which was the minimum plus an extra Saturday and an extra Sunday.
The potential for an early voting plan which didn’t include a Sunday led to discussion by both the Lee County Board of Elections, two Republican members of which were contacted by a state elections official recommending that Sunday be removed, and the Lee County Board of Commissioners, who discussed the matter at a meeting earlier this week.
Jay Delancey, a Republican member of the Lee County Board of Elections, spoke to the state board in favor of Plan A. Democratic member Becky Whitaker spoke in favor of Plan D, but told The Rant she said she’d accept Plan C as a compromise.
Whitaker said she provided statistics to the state board showing that during the 2024 election, Sunday was the third busiest day of the week based on number of voters per hour and in 2022, it was the second busiest. The approved 2026 plan is below:
