RALEIGH – North Carolina election officials extended voting at five precincts in four counties Tuesday and said the first unofficial statewide results are expected around 8:15 p.m., after all polling places close.
The State Board of Elections said it approved the extensions because voting had stopped temporarily at the affected locations. The causes varied by county. The action changes closing times only at the specified sites, not at every polling place in those counties.
In Columbus County, the South Williams-Tabor City Courthouse precinct, at 110 W. Fourth St. in Tabor City, will remain open until 8:15 p.m.
Hertford County has two extensions. Como Fire and Rescue Building, at 1201 U.S. 258 North in Como, will close at 7:55 p.m. Murfreesboro 1-Murfee Center, at 201 E. Broad St. in Murfreesboro, will close at 8 p.m.
In Lenoir County, K8 Holloway Recreation Center, at 100 N. Myrtle Ave. in Kinston, will remain open until 8 p.m. Wilson City Recreation Building, at 500 Sunset Road in Wilson, will close at 7:45 p.m.
The board said voters who arrive at those precincts after the normal 7:30 p.m. closing time will vote provisional ballots. The extensions do not move the normal closing time at unaffected polling places.
State law authorizes the board to extend a site’s closing time when opening is delayed, or voting is interrupted, for more than 15 minutes. The extension may equal the length of the delay. The law also protects the right of voters already in line when a polling place closes to cast a ballot.
The board said it will withhold unofficial results statewide until all polls have closed because voting is continuing in many contests. Its projected 8:15 p.m. posting time is an estimate for the first returns, not a deadline for complete results or certification.
The decision is a completed Election Day action. It supersedes the earlier tentative meeting agenda, which listed additional locations for possible consideration but did not itself authorize extensions.
Sources
- State Board of Elections: Nov. 3 decision and precinct closing times
- N.C. General Assembly: G.S. 163-166.25, hours for voting
Photo Credit: Context file photograph: A polling-place sign in Manhattan, New York, Nov. 4, 2008, by John Morton via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and resized; photographic adaptation shared under the same license. This is not one of the North Carolina precincts affected by the extensions. NCPN logo is a separate brand mark.
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.