The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously at an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon to keep five polling places open past the state's 7:30 p.m. closing time, after computer outages, printer problems and equipment failures stopped or slowed voting at sites in four counties on Election Day. Because voting is still going on, the board will not release any unofficial results from anywhere in the state until every polling place has closed, and the first statewide numbers are now expected at about 8:15 p.m.
The longest extension is in Columbus County, where the South Williams precinct at the Tabor City Courthouse, on West Fourth Street in Tabor City, stays open until 8:15 p.m. The precinct's computer system went down during the day — for under 90 minutes, county officials said — and workers checked voters in using the backup paper poll books. Columbus County elections director Ashley Collins said no voters were turned away.
Four more precincts got shorter extensions. In Lenoir County, the K8 Holloway Recreation Center in Kinston stays open until 8 p.m. after a printer problem. In Hertford County, the Murfreesboro 1 precinct at the Murfee Center stays open until 8 p.m. and the Como Fire and Rescue Building until 7:55 p.m., both after computer problems. In Wilson County, the Wilson City Recreation Building stays open until 7:45 p.m. after equipment problems at the start of voting. The board also heard requests from Gates, Watauga and Wilkes counties and granted no extension there, finding the disruptions shorter, or that voters had been able to come back and vote.
State law allows the extensions only on strict terms. The board may extend voting at a site where voting was interrupted for at least 15 minutes, and only for as long as the interruption lasted and only at the affected site. Anyone who arrives at an extended precinct after 7:30 p.m. votes a provisional ballot, while voters already in line at 7:30 p.m. vote a regular ballot.
The delay holds up the first numbers in one of the night's most watched races, the U.S. Senate contest between former governor Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman, for the seat held by Senator Thom Tillis, who is not seeking re-election.
For voters in the five precincts, the ruling means a machine failure in the morning does not cost them their vote: everyone who was held up by the stoppages gets the full voting time the law promises, and the ballots they cast in the added minutes count the same as any cast earlier in the day. State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes said the aim is simple: "We want every eligible voter to have the opportunity to participate, and we want every lawful vote to count." North Carolina has about 2,625 polling places, and 2,724,424 people voted early in this election, nearly 36 percent more than in 2022.
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