Emails Show North Carolina GOP Sought To Cut Voting Hours

In the first presidential election since the Supreme Court invalidated a key piece of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, state election boards are under intense scrutiny in an already contentious election. In North Carolina, a crucial swing state for both Democrats and Republican, and one with a long history of voter suppression, cases of bias by the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections (SBE) have already come to light.

In October, the NAACP filed a federal suit against the SBE for alleging that at least three counties purged “thousands” of voters from their records, notes CNN.

“In many cases, voters purged by defendants still reside at the address where they are registered to vote, or have moved within the county and remain eligible to vote there,” lawyers for the NAACP argue. “Nonetheless, a single item of returned mail has resulted in their ultimate removal from the voter rolls.”

But Kimberly Westbrook Strach, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, defended her agency’s actions.

“[T]he statutes at issue are decades old and are common across the country and widely regarded as compatible with the National Voter Registration Act,” Strach wrote in a statement following the lawsuit’s filing. “If the plaintiffs are right, then most states are wrong.”

And in emails revealed by Reuters, state- and county-level Republican officials urged the election boards of at least 17 counties to limit early voting sites and the hours they were open. Early voting tends to disproportionately favor Democratic voters.

“We currently have more early voting locations and hours open than ever were open under Democrat control,” Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, stated.

But in emails sent to fellow Republicans on county election boards, Woodhouse urged them to follow the “party line” on early voting.

“Many of our folks are angry and opposed to Sunday voting,” he wrote in the emails. “Six days of voting in one week is enough. Period.” He further argued that keeping polling sites open the full 17-day period for early voting “may be wasteful and unnecessary.”

 “With all of the opportunities to vote by mail, early in person Monday – Saturday, and on Election Day, there is no justification for requiring election workers to work on Sundays,” Elaine Hewitt, a member of the Rowan County Republican Executive Committee, emailed to fellow Republican election board members.

On October 1, the Clinton campaign joined others in filing suit against five North Carolina counties to expand early voting. The court denied the motion. 

Sources: Reuters, CNN / Photo Credit: Giulio Saggin/ABC News via Architizer