Overview:
• The county Board of Elections had two locations in mind
• One of these is Cliffdale Recreation Center
• County board members were divided on the second site. Republicans wanted the Kiwanis Recreation Center, Democrats wanted the Board of Elections Office
• The state board chose all three sites. Early voting will be at Cliffdale Recreation Center, Kiwanis Recreation Center, and the Board of Elections Office
Fayetteville and Cumberland County will get three early voting sites for this fall’s municipal elections instead of two sites, the North Carolina State Board of Elections decided on Wednesday.
Early voting will be conducted Oct. 16 through Nov. 1, at these locations in Fayetteville, ahead of the Nov. 4 general election:
- The Cumberland County Board of Elections Office, 227 Fountainhead Lane, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 1.
- The Kiwanis Recreation Center, 352 Devers St., noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 1.
- Cliffdale Recreation Center, 6404 Cliffdale Road, noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 1.
For Fayetteville’s Oct. 7 primary, there will be only one early voting site: the county Board of Elections Office. Starting Sept. 18, the elections staff will conduct early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, plus 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 4 (the last Saturday before the primary election on Oct. 7).
Republicans and Democrats failed to decide
The state board’s decision on Wednesday came after the five members of the Cumberland County Board of Elections were unable to decide among themselves where to open early voting locations ahead of the Nov. 4 election day. The Fayetteville City Council this year voted unanimously to allocate $40,000 to cover the costs of opening Fayetteville’s Cliffdale Recreation Center for early voting.
The two Democrats and three Republicans on the county Board of Elections agreed to open two sites, and they agreed that western Fayetteville’s Cliffdale Recreation Center should be one of them.
They disagreed on where to open a site on the eastern side of town.
The two Democrats on the board wanted the other site to be the Board of Elections Office, which is near downtown on the eastern side of Fayetteville.
The board’s three Republicans preferred the Kiwanis Recreation Center in Honeycutt Park, just off Fort Bragg Road near Fayetteville Technical Community College. This is just over 2 miles from the Board of Elections Office. While the rec center is toward the city’s eastern side, it is more centrally located than the elections office.
State law requires the county elections board to reach a unanimous decision on early voting locations. When the local board fails to reach a unanimous decision, the matter moves to the state board.
The county board tried at four meetings — two in June and two in August — to pick early voting sites, but never reached a unanimous vote.
State board settles it
The state board took up the matter on Wednesday, and heard from county board members.
“Kiwanis is simply an easier site for voters,” Cumberland County Board Chair Linda Devore, a Republican, told the state board. It has more room than the county elections office, she said, and parking is more available to voters at the rec center than at the county elections office.
Devore has previously argued for the Kiwanis Rec Center because she thinks this year’s highly contested Fayetteville mayoral election will drive up turnout, and the rec center is better suited to receive a large number of voters.
Democrat Irene Grimes said the Board of Elections office has sufficient parking and capacity to handle the city council early balloting, which is typically a low-turnout election.
She was concerned that if the elections office is used for the October primary’s early voting, but not for the early voting in November’s election, that voters will return to the elections office by mistake for the general election. While they would be directed to go to the Kiwanis Recreation Center, Grime said some may get discouraged.
“Makes me wonder how many of these people are then going to give up and go home,” she said.
Grimes further argued that it would be almost $11,000 cheaper to conduct the balloting at the Board of Elections Office than at the Kiwanis Rec Center.
The state board voted unanimously to give both Devore and Grimes what they wanted. It ordered that both the Kiwanis Recreation Center and the Board of Elections office will be used for early voting, in addition to the west Fayetteville Cliffdale Recreation Center.
‘Equally happy or equally unhappy’
Grimes afterward told CityView she disagrees with the state board’s decision.
“It felt to me like they were trying to make everybody equally happy or equally unhappy,” she said.
If Cumberland County will have three early voting sites, they need to be spaced further apart so that they will be nearer to more voters, Grimes said. The Kiwanis Rec Center and the Board of Elections office are too close to each other, she said, for both to serve as early voting sites.
Devore liked the decision.
Voter turnout in the municipal elections is boosted by a contested mayor election and the availability of places to vote early, she said.
“I’m happy with what we got, and I think it will increase voter participation in municipal elections this year and into the future, because I think it’s a good template,” Devore said.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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