Dorian forces early end to early voting in some eastern NC counties

Early voting will come to an early close Wednesday in several eastern North Carolina counties, where two special congressional elections are being held, because of Hurricane Dorian.

Posted 7:07 p.m. Sep 4, 2019 — Updated 4:03 p.m. Sep 5, 2019

RALEIGH, N.C. — Early voting will come to an early close Wednesday in several eastern North Carolina counties, where two special congressional elections are being held, because of Hurricane Dorian.

Elections are being held in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes coastal counties from Onslow County north to the Virginia border, because of the death of former Congressman Walter Jones and in the 9th Congressional District, which runs along the South Carolina border from Charlotte to Robeson County and also takes in parts of Bladen and Cumberland counties, because of absentee ballot tampering in last fall's election.

The state's Democratic Party has asked the state to extend early voting to offset this lost time, but a final decision hasn't been made. The State Board of Elections meets early Thursday afternoon on other issues.

Storm preparations have prompted a number of counties to close their offices this week, including election offices and early voting sites:

Carteret County voting sites are closed through Friday.
Chowan County will end early voting at noon Thursday.
Craven County will end early voting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Cumberland County early voting ends at 1 p.m. Thursday, but no decision has been made on whether to open early voting sites on Friday.
Dare County voting sites are closed through Friday.
Greene County elections officials planned to meet Wednesday evening to consider possible changes to early voting.
Hyde County voting sites are closed through Friday.
Jones County ends early voting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Lenoir County voting sites are closed through Friday.
Onslow County early voting ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Pamlico County early voting ends at 7 p.m. Wednesday. County elections officials plan to meet Saturday morning to consider possible changes to polling sites for Election Day.
Pasquotank County early voting ends at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Pitt County elections officials plan to meet Wednesday evening to determine whether to make any early voting changes because of Dorian.
Robeson County early voting sites close at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, while the county elections office closes at 5:15 p.m.
Scotland County early voting ends at 7 p.m. Wednesday.