Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Elections topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Elections director asks county to fund full-time assistant and relocate office after cramped early-voting conditions
Summary
The county’s elections director reported space, parking and security problems at the current office during early voting, recommended making a part-time assistant full time, and said the office should relocate to a site with more parking, internal space and secure storage.
Adam, director of the Swain County Board of Elections, told commissioners at the March work session the office needs a full-time assistant and a new or larger office site after difficulties during recent early voting.
Adam reviewed operations and 2024 data: the office ran three countywide elections in 2024 (primary, runoff and general), recorded 9,583 total votes across all three elections, provided 46 days of in-person voting and 160 days of absentee voting, processed more than 1,300 new registrations, removed over 500 ineligible voters from the rolls, and evaluated roughly 1,500 petition signatures. He said those activities, plus new statutory deadlines and heightened emergency- and security-planning expectations, have increased workload for the department.
Adam said staffing has been thin: the office currently employs two full-time staff and one part-time assistant (Leanna Crisp). He recommended converting the part-time assistant position to full time to handle year-round tasks such as mapping, list maintenance, public records and emergency planning, and to reduce dependence on overtime and short-term temporary help. Adam said board members support making the position full time.
He also described operational problems during early voting that affected voter access and safety: limited parking that forced voters to park on the roadway, insufficient indoor queuing space that left voters exposed to weather, a slanted floor that caused at least one fall and created mobility challenges for wheelchair users, and inadequate storage for election equipment. For those reasons, Adam said the elections office can no longer serve as an early-voting site for countywide elections and will need a separate site until the relocation is completed.
Adam summarized other challenges the office faced in 2024 including communications outages associated with Storm Helene, last-minute ballot changes tied to litigation that delayed absentee mailing and increased costs, staff turnover that left the office short-handed in the spring, and a recent state law shortening results-processing deadlines in some cases from 10 days to 3 days.
Why it matters: Adam said the combination of staffing, security and facility issues increases risk and costs for administering elections and urged county support for a full-time assistant and a long-term relocation plan. He said the board has suggested exploring a five-year plan and that county officials and commissioners are welcome to visit the Elections Office or attend Board of Elections meetings.
Sources: Remarks by Adam, director of the Swain County Board of Elections, during the March work session. Supporting staff referenced included Deputy Director Jana Hyatt and assistant Leanna Crisp.
