Most of the crowd at the Granville County Board of Elections meeting Wednesday left angry and frustrated after the early voting plan they hoped the board would adopt failed in 2-2 votes.
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The elections board met to reconsider the controversial early voting plan it adopted a month ago, but ended up largely where they were in mid-June.
The meeting devolved into two acrimonious hours of members of the audience who wanted changes shouting at Republican members, booing them and telling them to resign. At times, they applauded Democrats’ arguments.
The fewer audience members who supported the GOP plan shouted meeting procedure instructions from their seats and shouted for the plan’s critics to “shut up.”
Republicans on the elections board chose to stick with their plan to close a popular early voting site, move another heavily used site from its downtown location, and open an early voting site in northern Granville.
“I believe we came up with a very reasonable plan,” said Debby Butler, a Republican member.
Democrats on the board wanted to keep the South Branch Library site open and keep another polling site at Oxford Public Works, rather than moving it from downtown to the Granville County Convention & Expo Center.
The GOP plan will make it harder for Black voters and people without transportation to vote early, critics said.
Since 2020, more than 70% of Granville early voters have used the Oxford Public Works or South Branch Library sites.
Nearly 90% of Black early voters use one of those two locations, Porscha Lopes, head of the Granville League of Women Voters, told the board.
“There is no logical reason to close those two early voting sites unless the goal is to diminish access for the significant number of our county’s voters,” she said. “And I know that isn’t your goal. Right?”
In the past month, the Granville County Board of Commissioners agreed to spend another $60,000 to open an additional early voting site. Democrats hoped to use that money to open both the new site in northern Granville and keep South Branch Library open for voting.
Republicans on the county board of elections decided to not open an additional site and turn down the extra money.
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“We can do the right thing,” said board member Teresa Gilreath, a Democrat. “It’s not going to cost us anything … I’m here today trying to get us out of this mess.”
The board was missing a Republican member, as former chairman Larue Ulshafer resigned after the last meeting.
But his reference to state Auditor Dave Boliek as “the boss” at the June meeting hung over Wednesday’s proceedings.
Jacob Moore of Franklinton told the board that “the voters are the boss,” and noted that a majority of voters in Granville County voted for President Donald Trump and Boliek in 2024.
“Remember that on Election Day,” Moore said.
Republicans passed a controversial law in 2024 giving Boliek the power to appoint the North Carolina Board of Elections, stripping it from Democrat Josh Stein, who won the governorship. Boliek also appoints county elections board chairs.
Messages obtained through public records requests reveal that Boliek and his former elections liaison Dallas Woodhouse worked behind the scenes in trying to direct some counties’ early voting plans.
In the summary of a May phone call, Ulshafer recounted that Woodhouse told him Boliek didn’t want to close any sites. Ulshafer told Woodhouse they couldn’t afford to keep them all open and add a north Granville location.
NC Auditor Boliek expressed polling site preferences and looked to boost GOP turnout, messages show.
The plan’s opponents implied that Republican members of the Granville board are being directed from Raleigh.
Without a unanimously approved early voting plan, the state board of elections will adopt one for Granville. The state board can pick the Republican plan, pick the Democrats’ plan, or come up with their own. The state board has a 3-2 Republican majority.
Gilreath urged board members to drop partisanship and come up with a plan they could all agree on instead of letting the state board decide.
“When you take a look at what’s happening in Raleigh, we don’t want any parts of that mess,” Gilreath said. “I mean, it’s a hot mess.
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