When a voting rights advocate approached the Rockingham County Board of Elections office on Wednesday morning, she was surprised to see an unusual and misspelled sign in all caps outside the front door.
“Board of Elections is closed today,” the sign read. “Election is being reconcilled. Please do not disturb.”
The activist, Orange County resident Chris Ashley, snapped a photo and sent it to a group of fellow voting rights advocates.
“I thought that was awfully odd and didn’t think that was anything rational, especially given that we have such a short period for people who were told they need to do something about their provisional ballot,” Ashley told The Assembly.
County offices are supposed to be open across the state so voters can resolve issues with their ballots. Voters are allowed to return to their county elections office by Friday with a photo ID if they forgot to provide one when they cast their ballot or to cure other deficiencies with their ballots.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections said later on Wednesday that it swiftly directed the Rockingham County office to reopen after learning of the issue. Still, the incident raised alarms from some political onlookers in light of the still-contested primary between Senate leader Phil Berger and Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. With all precincts reporting and more than 26,000 ballots cast, Page had a 2-vote lead. That means provisional ballots could be important to the outcome of the race, especially in Rockingham County, which swung heavily in Page’s favor.
The closure drew statewide attention when Carolina Forward, a left-leaning group, posted Ashley’s photo to X in the afternoon.
Ashley told The Assembly she remained on site for two hours to see if anybody would be turned away. She said one person arrived in an effort to cast a ballot for the first time, mistakenly thinking it was Election Day. She said she also observed six or seven vehicles enter the parking lot, but turn around without a driver leaving their vehicle.
When The Assembly reached out to the county elections board for a response, the call was directed to voicemail. Meanwhile, the North Carolina State Board of Elections was successful in getting through to local officials.
Jason Tyson, a spokesman for the NCSBE, said the state swiftly stepped in and directed the county to reopen its office.
Paula Seamster, the county elections director, then responded to The Assembly’s inquiry, explaining that, for the past five years or so, she’s closed the county office for half a day the day after an election so that workers can upload electronic records to the state’s election management system without any distractions. She said people often show up the day after an election hoping to vote, which can be disruptive.
“It’s just to make sure we don’t make any mistakes and that we have a little bit of peace,” Seamster said.
Seamster said the office was closed for about four hours from 8 a.m. to noon and reopened immediately upon the NCSBE’s directive. She doesn’t believe the closure kept anyone from resolving issues with their ballots because no eligible voter rang the doorbell while the doors were locked.
“If we knew they’re there, we would’ve let them in,” she said.
She added, “It’s not something I haven’t done before. There is no conspiracy.”