Data, Passion, Disgust — Granville’s Elections Board Remains Deadlocked on Early Voting Sites

WHAT HAPPENED: The Granville County Board of Elections deadlocked Wednesday in a tense meeting on where to place early voting sites throughout the county, rejecting a bid from the board’s Democrats to revisit a plan approved a month ago that removed popular early voting sites from majority Black and Latino population centers in the county. The State Board of Elections will ultimately decide where Granville’s voters will cast their ballots at a future meeting.   

BACKGROUND: A lot has happened since that June meeting. After pushback on the early voting plan from voting rights groups, many hoped the board would reconsider shuttering popular early voting sites in Oxford and Creedmoor. Voting rights groups Common Cause North Carolina and Southern Coalition for Social Justice advocated for keeping the sites open and a County Beacon analysis showed that the plan that had been adopted would make it harder for most residents in the county to vote. 

The county elections board chair, Republican LaRue Ulshafer, resigned following the June 30 meeting, as did Dallas Woodhouse, the county board’s liaison at the State Board of Elections,as similar controversies over early voting plans roil boards across the state. Historically, Elections Boards make mostly boring nonpartisan decisions about election administration. Not this year. 

THE CONTROVERSY: Voting rights advocates had hoped that the meeting Wednesday would give both Republicans and Democrats a chance to pass a plan that makes sense. The meeting was tense and uncomfortable — but ultimately Republicans seemed to realize that power was on their side and the 2-2 deadlocked votes will be decided by a state board controlled by the GOP and Republican Auditor Dave Boliek, who was handed elections administration oversight by the majority GOP General Assembly  after the 2024 election, which continues to be contested in court by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.

The July 15th meeting was only called because a mistake had been made in reading a motion regarding the early voting schedule into the record at the board’s meeting last month. It was clear that even with the absence of the Republican chair and weeks of controversy hadn’t swayed the board’s Republican members, Douglas O. Smith and Debby Butler, who cited potential safety issues as the reason for shuttering the popular early voting sites at Oxford Public Works and South Branch Library (Creedmoor) but offered little other thoughts on the voting plan even after being implored by Democratic board members and members of the public in attendance.

A few highlights from the meeting:

• Democratic Board member Teresa Gilreath shared that she worked with Granville’s County Commission to secure additional funding for a fourth early voting site to meet Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek’s demands that early voting sites be more spread out in the county.

• Republicans voted against adding the site anyway. "We have the money for that site. Why can't we have the (new) site and leave (Oxford and South Branch) alone?" Board member Sharyn Alvarez asked. Butler then deferred to Smith to respond. "All the points you're making have already been made," Smith said.

• Gilreath was frustrated at the end of the meeting, especially given that funding for a fourth site had been secured, which she thought was a win-win for both sides: "We have to be very aware of who we have on boards and representing our community. We need to think long and hard … what integrity are we going to be bringing to that board? People need to have a history and a track record before they're actually representing us in the community. This doesn't serve the community well at all."

• At one point, Smith asked Gilreath about the nation’s Founding Fathers. Smith: "Were our founding fathers correct when they formed this country?" Gilreath responded emphatically: "No. My people have been here as long as your people." Smith, through shouting in the room, then said he had not been contacted by anyone in the state auditor's office. The discussion about the founding fathers did not get picked back up after that. A sheriff’s deputy on hand spoke to someone shouting in the audience, but no one was removed.

• Gilreath worried about the reputation of the county. "They (county commissioners) worked hard to get us that money. This is bad press. This is bad business for Granville County to be going down this path unnecessarily for partisan reasons. We're supposed to be meeting the voting needs of our community, not trying to favor one party. Don't dig your heels in and follow this crazy (path)." Smith responded about whether the State Board of Elections would agree they had met the criteria to present a nonpartisan plan: "If they rule against us, they rule against us."

• Gilreath continued: "We can do the right thing," she said. "So the point of getting the money (for another early voting site) served no purpose? It is not too late to do the right thing. Put this partisanship thing aside. That's not rational."