Residents, election officials and a state senator press Harnett County boards on early voting in schools; board schedules public meetings

Public commenters, elected officials and board staff spent more than an hour Tuesday debating whether early voting should continue in Harnett County schools, with speakers warning that moving polling places could reduce turnout and asking local leaders to meet and negotiate a solution.

Several precinct chairs and longtime poll workers told the Harnett County Board of Elections the county should keep election-day and early-voting operations in schools because schools are public, familiar locations and convenient for older voters. State Sen. Michael Bergen, who said he visited long lines at Western Harnett, urged local officials to avoid sudden changes and noted research showing a decline in turnout when voting locations move.“When you move a voting place for the next election, there is about a 7% drop off in voting because people are convenient voters,” Senator Bergen said.

The board’s GIS analyst presented three draft precinct-map options that would reduce very large precincts and combine a handful of small ones; staff proposed scheduling three public meetings so residents can review the map changes and possible alternate early‑voting sites before the board considers a final plan.

Why it matters: Precinct boundaries and polling locations affect how easily voters can access the ballot. Citizens and poll workers told the board that long wait times — which some said reached three hours at Western Harnett during the last election — are the problem the county must solve, and that moving voting out of schools without clear, nearby alternatives would create confusion and likely disenfranchise some voters.

The public comment period drew a long list of speakers, including precinct chairs and former poll workers who described practical logistics and safety concerns. “Our taxpayers have invested in it,” said Greg Steiner, who identified himself as a county resident and retired veteran, arguing schools are the proper public location for voting. Patricia Johnson, who said she worked as an election poll worker and as an educator, told the board that in her experience children were kept apart from polling lines and that schools posed no routine safety problem.

Several speakers contrasted early voting with election-day voting. Multiple speakers and board staff said schools are generally closed on election day but that early-voting days — 16 days in some election cycles — bring staff, students and community members into shared spaces during school hours. That distinction was central to the dispute: county commissioners have circulated a joint resolution limiting school access for early voting, which board members, education officials and residents said should be resolved through local discussion rather than immediate action.

Board staff described a data-driven approach to redrawing precincts. Seth, the county GIS analyst, showed draft maps that would split oversized precincts such as Barbecue and reassign smaller precincts to form more even voter populations. He said the proposals reduce some precincts from roughly 16,000 registered voters to more balanced sizes in the 8,000–12,000 range and that one suggested change would lower Anderson Creek from about 12,700 registered voters to about 10,000.

Claire, a board staff member, outlined the statutory process for using school facilities: the board sends a school‑use form and the school has 20 days to respond; if a school objects staff and the facility governing body are expected to negotiate in good faith and, if no compromise is reached within 45 days, the dispute can be escalated to the State Board of Elections. “We do have to fill out a school use form prior to every election,” Claire said.

The board gave staff direction to: finalize a draft precinct map that leaves Northwest Harnett intact for now, prepare materials with both current polling places and possible alternates, and schedule three public meetings (one in Central Harnett at the Commons, one in Dunn at the Dunn Community Building and one in the Barbecue area) so residents can review proposals and offer feedback. Staff said it would post an interactive map online and circulate the draft to party chairs and on the county website prior to the public meetings.

Separately, board members said they were aware county commissioners planned to discuss a joint resolution restricting school use on the commissioners’ agenda. The board voted to table consideration of any board action on that resolution and place it on their own next meeting agenda so the board could collect public input and meet with the school board and commissioners. The board’s stated timeline seeks to complete public outreach before candidates file in July; staff said the target was to obtain local approvals in time to submit required documents to the State Board of Elections well ahead of filing.

What remains unresolved: Commissioners and the school board have not agreed on a uniform alternative plan for early voting outside schools. Several speakers asked commissioners to meet jointly with the school board and elections staff before the commissioners press the resolution further.

The board said it will notify the public of the upcoming meetings and publish the proposed maps and statistics for public review.