The North Carolina State Board of Elections has moved to extend the operational hours of four polling locations across three counties. As a result, polling sites will remain open as late as 7:30 p.m. ET. The extension of voting hours will result in votes not being counted until 8:15 p.m. ET.
“With 2,660 polling sites, it’s not unusual for minor issues to occur at polling sites that result in a brief disruption of voting,” the NCBSE said.
“The State Board routinely meets to discuss the extension of hours when the need arises.”
The Plainview Fire Station polling site in Sampson County will extend its voting hours by 45 minutes. A second polling site in Sampson County will remain open for an additional 24 minutes.
In Greensboro, the Bluford Elementary School polling site will stay open an additional 34 minutes. Elsewhere, First Missionary Baptist Church in Cabarrus County will offer voters an additional 17 minutes.
Many of the delays in North Carolina are caused by technical issues. In states like Georgia and Ohio, officials have reported widespread technical issues that have led to the use of paper systems. Despite concerns, government officials assure voters that this is the result of technical difficulties and not election interference.
“What we’re really stressing is that when you see technology challenges or failures, more often than not, it is very, very, very rarely a cyber-related incident, it is typically a technology challenge, a misconfiguration, a failure,” a senior official from the Department of Homeland Security said.
“Based on everything we have seen, that is what is going on out there.”
