Granville County Board of Elections Divided Over Polling Locations

Tension boiled over at a contentious Granville County Board of Elections meeting on Tuesday, as Board Chair Larue Ulshafer said that State Auditor Dave Boliek, who appoints members of North Carolina’s State Board of Elections as well as the County Board chairs, encouraged him to change the locations of early voting sites around the county. In order to align with Boliek’s “vision,” Ulshafer and two other Republican members of the county board voted to move early voting sites away from majority-Black and Latino population centers in Oxford and Creedmoor and into whiter, more rural parts of the county. If approved by the state board, the changes made Tuesday would:

• Close the polling place at South Branch Library in Creedmoor, a majority-Black and Latino community in the southern, more heavily populated part of Granville County, and open an early voting site in the small, mostly white, northern rural town of Stovall, 30 minutes away from Creedmoor by car and not accessible by public transportation. 
• Move the Oxford early voting site from the Oxford Public Works Building in downtown Oxford to the Granville County Event and Expo Center, about 5 miles from the city center.  

“I can tell you that I’ve talked to Mr. Boliek two times," Ulshafer said. "And one time was when he came to a meeting here and he introduced himself to me. At which time he did not discuss any of this. The other time was after I was selected to be the Chairman. I went to a meeting in Raleigh. And he said, ‘My philosophy is, and my goals are, and my vision as a leader is that we should be doing this.’ So I spent 21 years in the Army and when the leader says that they have a vision and they would like to see it implemented, you start to do that…The boss said, 'my vision is we have free and equal voting across the county and north, south and central.' And that’s what we’re working towards.”

In opposing the changes, Board Member Teresa Gilreath named their impacts explicitly:

“By the time we finish doing all the changes that are proposed today, we will end up with all of our voting precincts in Republican territory, non-Democratic territory, non-African-American territories.”

Board member Smith said his vote to close the South Branch site was designed to put pressure on the county commissioners to fund a fourth voting site. The County Commission has made it clear that there is funding for only three early voting sites in the county this year, so opening the Stovall site would effectively mean closing the South Branch site. 

Board member Sharyn C. Alvarez took issue with making the change this year without planning for the funds to keep existing sites open:

“After 26 years of them not having a site up there, they can’t wait one more year?”

Public comments overwhelmingly opposed moving the county’s early voting sites. Butner resident Fred Johnson shared his analysis that the two early voting sites proposed for change currently serve 4 out of 5 early voters in Granville County. Other commenters pointed out that people who live in rural areas already travel to towns for groceries and banking, but the reverse is not true. 

Oxford resident Karen McGhee said that the proposals being considered would disenfranchise the most vulnerable voters:

“Actually moving early voting from Oxford Public Works and the South Branch Library where there is a higher density of [disenfranchised voters], mostly those who lack transportation and currently walk to those sites. There is no safe way for individuals, namely from Oxford, to walk here to vote. In no way would moving early voting sites out into the county make voting, as you and the state auditor say, equal for all voters”

Jason Duncan, who works to turn out voters in Granville County, was clear about what is really at stake:

“There’s no other way to look at this than it being a blatant attack to suppress Black and brown votes in the city of Oxford. Oxford is 59.7% Black. Public Works is a centralized location and has been beneficial to early voters of the Black and brown community for years. Moving to the outskirts of the county will be detrimental to Black and brown people, both able-bodied and those with special needs.”

Resident Scotty Brooks named the gap between the Board's stated intentions and the impacts of their actions:

“It should be convenient to vote. You can’t tell me as a board that you want everybody to vote when you’re going to make it hard for everybody to vote”

Ultimately, the board voted to:

• Relocate the Wilton Election Day polling site from Wilton Elementary School to Tar River Elementary School.
• Close the Creedmoor/Butner early voting site at the South Branch Library and replace it with a new early voting site at the Stovall Library in the northern part of the county.
• Move the Oxford early voting site from the Oxford Public Works building to the Granville County Event and Expo Center. Both sites will continue to serve as their precinct’s election day polling locations. 

The decision to move the Wilton Election Day site was uncontroversial, as Wilton Elementary School is now closed. The votes on moving early voting locations followed intense debate among board members and comments from residents.

• Advocates for moving the early voting locations, including Republican members of the board, cited safety and fairness (there is currently no early voting site in the northern part of the county) as reasons to move early voting sites from population centers in Oxford and Creedmoor to less-populated parts of the county. 
• Board members Sharyn C. Alvarez and Teresa Gilreath, both Democrats, opposed the changes, citing the fairness of moving the limited number of early voting sites to parts of the county that are more difficult  or most residents to access. 

Because the Board did not reach unanimous agreement on key items, the county’s early voting plan will be reviewed by the North Carolina State Board of Elections. 

The State Board of Elections has a 3-2 Republican majority. Its members, along with County elections board chairs, are appointed by State Auditor Dave Boliek. The Republican-majority North Carolina legislature shifted appointment power from the governor to the state auditor following the 2024 election, when North Carolinians elected Democrat Josh Stein Governor. 

The full video of the meeting is available here. Selected clips from the meeting and how the board members voted on key agenda items are below:

1. Wilton Precinct Election Day Polling Place Relocation

The Board unanimously approved relocating the Wilton Precinct polling site from Wilton Elementary School Gym to Tar River Elementary School Gym due to the permanent closure of Wilton Elementary School.

Motion: Debby Butler

Second: Douglas O. Smith

Vote:

• Larue Ulshafer — Yes
• Sharyn C. Alvarez — Yes
• Debby Butler — Yes
• Teresa Gilreath — Yes
• Douglas O. Smith — Yes

(APPROVED – UNANIMOUS)

2. New Early Voting Site: Stovall Library 

The Board approved creating a new early voting site in northern Granville County at Stovall Library, stating compliance with state statute requirements and efforts to expand geographic coverage. However, both Sharyn C. Alvarez and Teresa Gilreath stated otherwise. 

Motion: Douglas O. Smith

Second: Debby Butler

Vote:

• Larue Ulshafer — Yes
• Sharyn C. Alvarez — No
• Debby Butler — Yes
• Teresa Gilreath — No
• Douglas O. Smith — Yes

(APPROVED – 3–2)

Teresa Gilreath comments:

3. Closure of Creedmoor Early Voting Site — South Branch Library

The Board approved closing the early voting site at South Branch Library after strong debate among the board members. 

Motion: Debby Butler

Second: Douglas O. Smith

Vote:

• Larue Ulshafer — Yes
• Sharyn C. Alvarez — No
• Debby Butler — Yes
• Teresa Gilreath — No
• Douglas O. Smith — Yes

(APPROVED – 3–2)

Creedmoor Commissioner Darryl Moss raised concerns about reducing early voting access in a historically active voting area.

4. Oxford Early Voting Relocation (APPROVED – 3–2)

Early voting in Oxford will now take place at the Granville County Expo and Convention Center. Despite the vote, Board Member Sharyn C. Alvarez made sure everyone understood the history of the early voting site at Oxford Public Works and how this change will impact this community. 

Motion: Douglas O. Smith

Second: Debby Butler

Vote:

• Larue Ulshafer — Yes
• Sharyn C. Alvarez — No
• Debby Butler — Yes
• Teresa Gilreath — No
• Douglas O. Smith — Yes

Additional Facility Decisions:

• The Expo Center will continue serving as the Election Day polling site for the Corinth Precinct and remain a designated emergency backup location.
• The Oxford Public Works Building will continue serving the Credle Precinct Election Day voting site and is not affected for Election Day use.

Oxford Commissioner Karen McGhee addressed comments by the Chair from the May Meeting.

What Happens Next

• Beacuse there was not unanimous agreement regarding Granville's early voting plan, a board member must submit a formal request for review from the state elections board.
• The State Board of Elections will hold a hearing to consider the proposed plan as well as any alternative plans.
• The State Board will determine which early voting plan will be used in the 2026 elections.

What began as a local administrative update has now evolved into a potentially state-reviewed election plan, shaped by split votes, legal thresholds, and competing interpretations of access and fairness.

Residents are encouraged to verify their polling locations before upcoming elections, as changes may still be reviewed or adjusted at the state level.