Harnett County elections board gives staff ‘qualified yes’ to temporary move to county facilities building, seeks security assurances

HARNETT COUNTY, N.C. — The Harnett County Board of Elections on Wednesday agreed, by motion, to give a “qualified yes” to moving its offices into a county facilities building while the county’s capital improvement plan (CIP) is unresolved, but board members stipulated security and space-separation conditions before the plan advances.

Board members said the facilities building offers more space than the board’s current headquarters but is not ideal for meetings or early voting. Members emphasized the need for secure storage for election machines and ballots, restricted access for non-Elections staff, and a timeline that treats the relocation as temporary until CIP funds are secured.

During public comment and the board’s site-review discussion, staff said the county would provide key-card access for restricted storage areas, install cameras and accommodate other security measures "so that only we would have access to that area and we would know who accessed it," Claire, an elections staff member, told the board.

Board members raised concerns about a “checkerboard” assignment of rooms in the proposed building, where Elections’ offices would sit adjacent to fleet, solid-waste and other departments. One board member said mixing the Elections office entrance and daily public circulation with waste-management or maintenance areas would be “not functional” for secure storage and chain-of-custody requirements, and repeated a statutory obligation to keep some election materials secure for a multi-month retention period.

The board moved to report to the county manager that it would give the county a qualified yes to the move and requested a detailed meeting with administration and the county manager to hash out security, space separation and a timeline. When the motion was made and seconded, the board voice-voted in favor; members recorded “Aye” during roll call and agreed the next step is a detailed meeting with county administration that includes Mike (county staff) and others.

Staff described the relocation as a swap: Elections would take space in the facilities building while solid waste and fleet would move to Elections’ current building for the short term. The move would be temporary until CIP funding is available; staff said there is no firm timeline for CIP approval and that earlier estimates of a two- to three-year timeline could be longer.

Board members asked staff to return with a floor plan showing a secured contiguous office area for Elections, a key-card plan that would record non‑Elections access to secured rooms, and options to consolidate adjacent departments to avoid a checkerboard arrangement. The board emphasized it would not proceed without assurances that restricted storage could only be entered with controlled access and audit logs.

Ending: The board approved the qualified yes motion and asked staff to schedule a detailed planning meeting with the county manager and relevant administrators; staff will return to the board with a revised floor plan, a security-access proposal and a timeline for a temporary move.