The State Board of Elections voted unanimously to combine the two voting plans of the Jackson County Board of Elections, placing one voting site at the Health and Human Sciences Building on Western Carolina University’s campus and another at the Cullowhee Recreation Center.
The vote follows a months-long controversy over the accessibility of polling sites in and around college campuses. Earlier this year, the state board approved a plan removing the early voting site for the primary from WCU’s campus. In response, students filed a lawsuit alleging disenfranchisement.
Thursday’s board decision came after an impassioned plea by the local Republican board member Jay Pavey who split with his party to favor the Health and Human Sciences building site.
In his remarks to the state board, Pavey quoted local board chair and fellow Republican Bill Thompson: “I am only voting for this because I have been pressured to do so.”
At the local board meeting in June, Thompson cited pressure from state leaders to vote against the on-campus site.
Following the accusations, NC Local obtained text messages from the auditor’s election liaison, Dallas Woodhouse, showing a directive to halt the local board’s June 2nd vote.
On Thursday, Pavey urged the state board to disregard Thompson’s vote, noting that the board chair did not come to the Raleigh meeting to defend his position.
“If you vote for this minority plan that has been obtained through pressure, obtained through coercion, you’re gonna hurt our party,” Pavey said.
Democratic state board member Siobhan O’Duffy Millen asked Pavey about whether Woodhouse threatened him. Pavey said the pressure he received was indirect and that he did not speak directly with Woodhouse.
Democratic state board member Jeff Carmon renewed his call for an investigation into Woodhouse and the role of the auditor’s office in local election board decision-making. Woodhouse resigned from the auditor’s office in mid-July.
Republican State Board Member Stacy “Four” Eggers IV moved to adopt both the majority plan and the minority proposal, putting polling places at both locations. Eggers said the county had previously hosted five sites.
“I’d like to see what the data might show following this election by doing a hybrid plan,” he said.
The board asked Jackson County Elections Director Amanda Allen for feedback about the burden two sites might create for local elections officials.
Returning to a five-site plan “will be challenging,” Allen said. The staffing issue will be manageable, she said, but adding a fifth site will put additional pressure on the budget.
Correction: This article was updated to correct the spelling of Jay Pavey’s name.
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
