One of the most harmful parts of last year’s voter suppression bill was the limitation on early voting. There had been 17 days of it. Last year’s bill, adopted by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, shortened that to 10 days. This can make it harder on working people who must take time off from work on Election Day to vote, for churches which have promoted “Souls to the Polls” voting after Sunday services, and on others who benefit from early voting.
But the bill also requires local boards of elections to provide as many hours of early voting as in the last elections. Local boards will have a good deal of leeway in figuring out how this works and in deciding where the early voting locations will be.
Our friends at Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to increased voter participation, is encouraging people to contact your local boards of elections, to advocate for strong early voting in your county.
To get involved, including getting information regarding meetings of the board of elections in your county and signing up to get more information from Democracy NC, click here.
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