(The Center Square) – Democratic U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee of North Carolina says a weaponization of the State Board of Elections includes “denied requests for early voting at universities that have hosted it before.”
Of the three, however, there’s only one. To boot, her district is among those in the 6% statewide increase in sites.
The panel on Jan. 13 adopted plans for 12 counties unable to reach unanimous decision on early voting sites. Guilford County, home to North Carolina A&T and UNC Greensboro, and Jackson County, home to Western Carolina, were included. And neither of the three campuses has an early in-person voting site this year.
Litigation was filed by College Democrats seeking to put sites on each campus. Judge William Osteen at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled Sunday the plans were fine.
Foushee wrote on Monday, “The claim that local boards would struggle to prepare voting sites before Thursday ignores the reality that the GOP weaponized the North Carolina Board of Elections and denied requests for early voting at universities that have hosted it before.”
A government accountability fact check by TCS found that, for midterm election primaries, the Guilford County Board of Elections has not approved and used an early in-person voting site North Carolina A&T or UNC Greensboro this century. That’s six elections.
The Hinds University Center at Western Carolina, however, has been used in each primary and general election for midterms and presidential years dating to at least 2016.
Foushee does not represent the areas of either campus.
Worth noting, the State Board of Elections this year approved plans giving a 6% increase in number of early voting sites for a midterm primary election – from 301 to 319. Orange County, represented by Foushee, was among 17 counties that grew by 27 sites.
Durham and Granville counties, others where Foushee has constituents, remained at the same number as four years ago.
Jackson County was one of seven with a reduction in sites.
