Author: Kim Strach, Executive Director
Following up on Numbered Memo 2015-05 (which announced the March 15, 2016 date of the upcoming statewide primary and provided due dates for one-stop materials) this memo provides more details and is accompanied by forms for that election.
Once again, counties are required to offer at least as many cumulative hours of one-stop voting as were offered four years previous (the 2012 primary). Attached, find a calculation of total hours for one-stop offered by each county during the 2012 primary. The total cumulative hours indicated for each county represents the minimum number of hours of one-stop voting that county must offer for the 2014 general election. Of course, the county board of elections is welcome to conduct hours beyond the required minimum, and counties should ensure that sufficient resources have been allocated for this very important and high-profile presidential primary that will be the first time in-person voters will be asked to show photo ID as a general requirement.
Because all counties will need to extend hours or open additional one-stop sites for the 2016 primary in order to meet their minimum hours requirements, all counties must submit a one-stop implementation plan as outlined below.
Implementation Plan Form
The 2016 edition of the implementation plan form is very similar to the format introduced for 2015. The main implementation plan form will include a cover page, a page for the county board of elections site and its schedule, and the schedule for all additional sites.
The form to enter in the address and site-specific information for each additional site will be in a separate file. Use the additional site form for each of your additional sites. Please keep the implementation plan and additional site forms in their native, save-able electronic PDF format (do not return a scanned copy). Note that the main form does not include a place for board member signatures. Instead, please include a resolution signed by all three board members along with the completed form. You may use your county board’s resolution in any format, or you may use our sample signature sheet/resolution form. Submit:
- The implementation plan form, completed but in original format.
- As many copies of the additional site form as there are additional sites, in original format, and
- The resolution or signature page to the State Board of Elections office via FTP (link and technical details provided in the e-mail that delivered this numbered memo.) Remember that if any sites have not been used as voting sites before, or if any conditions have changed, an accessibility survey should also be submitted to provide documentation that the property has been inspected to ensure it will be accessible as a voting site.
One-stop implementation plans for the 2016 primary are due to the State Board of Elections no later than Friday, Jan. 15, 2016.
One-Stop Matters To Be Heard by the State Board
Nonunanimous Implementation Plans
If the county board is not unanimous in its designation of one-stop sites, one or more county board members should petition the State Board of Elections to decide the matter. Petitions should be submitted — using the one-stop implementation plan form and the cover sheet form outlined below — as soon as possible to allow the State Board time to hold a meeting.
Along with this numbered memo, a cover sheet form is provided for nonunanimous plans to summarize the issue and differences between proposed plans. Completing this form is the responsibility of the county elections director, and the director should plan to be present for the State Board meeting to consider a nonunanimous implementation plan. County board members are welcome to provide documents and evidence in advance of the meeting in support of their proposed plan.
Unanimous Requests To Reduce the Number of Required Hours
G.S. § 163-227.2(g3) allows a unanimous county board to request a reduction in the number of required cumulative hours, although a request can be granted only by a unanimous vote of the State Board. Because that means that a successful request is subject to the expectations of every single State Board member, the following expectations have been authorized to be communicated.
Subject to the qualifications below, plans should include the following attributes:
- On at least four weekdays, at least one site is open until 8 p.m. or alternately, on at least four weekdays, at least one site is open for 12 hours, and
- On the first Saturday, at least one site is open for at least three hours.
These expectations came into play for the 2014 general election. They were set along with the caveat that there may be exceptions if the county board of elections can persuasively explain why there are good reasons for an hours reduction and why these criteria are unnecessary for a certain county. Specific circumstances will be taken into consideration, particularly for smaller counties and with respect to the first of the two criteria.
Along with the completed implementation plan forms, requests for hours reductions should include a cover letter from the county board of elections explaining why a reduction is necessary. Statistics and specific evidence is helpful to allow the State Board members to understand why a request is being made.
Hours reduction requests will be accepted until Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015.
Questions about one-stop plan approvals can be directed to onestop@ncsbe.gov.
Thank you all for your time and dedication. Here is to an exciting 2016 presidential primary!
[Download the PDF below to view the attachment with a calculation of total hours for one-stop early voting each county offered during the 2012 primary.]
↓ One-Stop Voting for the 2016 Primary: Numbered Memo 2015-07 (PDF)