Board of Elections
In the coming months the Orange County BOE will be setting the
early voting plan for the 2014 election cycle. Since there have been
issues with the Rams' Head one-stop site, we are looking for alternatives for
an early voting location that will serve Chapel Hill, and the campus community
in particular.
Keeping in mind that certain factors -- parking, ADA compliance,
internet access, the ability to secure the ballot box, etc. -- are mandated by
statute, we would appreciate your input about sites that would best serve the
students, faculty, staff and residents during the abbreviated 2014 early voting
period.
While we all mourn the loss of Morehead Planetarium as a one-stop
site, that facility has been repurposed by the University and is no longer
available to us, so we need your help in finding somewhere that can be just as
successful.
After reading about changes made in Watauga County, I was prompted to write a letter to the Orange County Board of Elections after several constituents voiced concerns about decision making in other counties. Below is that letter.
Dear Members of the Orange County Board of Elections,
I am
writing in response to concerns voiced to me by constituents in the
Orange County community after actions taken by the Watauga County Board
of Elections and the Pasquotank County Board of Elections.
This
week the Watauga County Board of Elections took action, which
consolidated three precincts into one large precinct numbering nearly
10,000 voters and where the polling place has only 35 parking spaces.
They then took action to reduce early voting to four days and eliminated
early voting at the Appalachian State University campus. All of these
actions were made in secret and not shared with the Democratic member of
the Board, yet the Watauga County GOP chairwoman was fully aware of the
coming actions. To add insult to injury, the Board did not allow verbal
comment from the public, instead opting for written comment only.
I’m the chair of the Board of Elections and wanted to clarify some of the discussion that has gone on about early voting:
Today, the Orange County Board of Elections voted to take early voting away from the UNC Campus. The early voting site at Seymour Senior Center would remain unchanged, but the second early voting site would be moved from the Morehead Planetarium to the Quik-E-Mart in University Square. While this may not seem like a big deal, moving the UNC student body's primary voting site off campus is the wrong thing to do. Below is the email from Town Manager Roger Stancil:
Carrboro was notified yesterday that their Town Hall would not be used as a one-stop early voting site in May. Apparently, the Orange County Board of Elections has decided to only have two one-stop locations for this year's primary: Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, and the Board's own office in Hillsborough. The e-mail below indicates that there will still be an early voting site in Carrboro for the Novemeber general election, but doesn't offer any explanation for the primary change.
OK, now this sounds like fun. Or at least quite interesting. Let's all go!
Press release from Orange County:
Contact:
Tracy Reams, Director, Orange County Board of Elections,
245-2351
The public is invited to see a demonstration of
the voting process and the procedures in place to ensure all ballots are counted
accurately.
The Orange County Board of Elections wants to
ensure that the voters of Orange County have complete confidence in the voting
system. The Board of Elections will demonstrate the voting machines on
Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. at the Orange Enterprise Building located
at 500 Valley Forge Rd, Hillsborough, NC.
For additional information, please contact
the Orange County Board of Elections (919) 245-2350.
Date:
Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 9:00am
Location:
Orange Enterprise Building located at 500 Valley Forge Rd, Hillsborough
Keep your eyes on the Board of Elections website starting at noon today. Since there are a number of candidates that have already declared to the media, I expect them to come out strong and try to scare off potential competitors quickly. It will be interesting to see in which districts some of them choose to run, especially incumbent Valerie Foushee.
I am going to be very busy with work (again, ug) so please post any new additions to that page in the comments here. Links to candidate websites are especially appreciated. :-)
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