Jackson County Board of Elections voted 3-2 along party lines to remove an early voting site at Western Carolina University for the 2026 primary elections.
However, because the vote was not unanimous it now moves to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which can endorse the vote to close the site, reverse the vote or implement its own plan, according to NC state law.
Republican Board of Election Chair Bill Thompson voted in favor of getting rid of the WCU site at the board meeting Tuesday. Thompson argued that the precinct is not accessible to all voters and it's a waste of taxpayer’s money having two early voting sites less than two miles apart.
“ By law, we could have just one site in Jackson County,” Thompson said. “It's required for every 30,000 voters at one site. We've got four, that's plenty.”
Both Republican and Democratic members of the board presented their 2026 primary election plans at the meeting.
Democrats Roy Osborn and Betsy Swift proposed keeping the precinct on WCU's campus at the Health and Human Sciences building.
“Cullowhee has no public building large enough to allow all of the normal early voter and election day voters to cast their ballot except several buildings on the WCU campus,” Osborn said.
He added that the location at the Health and Human Sciences building is easy to access, secure, has parking space available and can fit 150 people.
Thompson, along with his fellow GOP board members, Wes Hanemayer and Jay Pavey, presented an alternative “one stop site” at the parks and recreation building in Cullowhee.
Thompson said the site, which is about a mile from campus, is easy to park at and enter, and is convenient for all demographics of voters.
“I know you think, ‘Oh, because it’s not walkable, it’s disenfranchising people,’” Thompson said during his presentation. “Well, then I’ve been disenfranchised all my life because I’ve never had a parking or a voting area that I could walk to. I do not consider myself to be disenfranchised or suppressed. We need these to be convenient. I never see Western students having any problem getting around.”
That claim was disputed by numerous students during public comment on Dec. 9. Many said the road between campus and Cullowhee’s recreation center site is dangerous because it is busy and lacks sidewalks or walkable shoulders.
“ WCU students, staff and community members across Jackson County all find use and need for this polling location,” said Zacharia Hoppes, a student at WCU. “Taking away this location will turn into a logistical nightmare real fast. There will be a better voter turnout if you keep the WCU polling location.”
Out of 21 speakers, only one was in support of removing the campus precinct.
Why does the early voting site mater?
Chris Cooper, a professor of political science and public affairs at WCU, said that closing the campus site doesn’t necessarily save the county money.
“ The vast majority of these expenses for polling sites are personnel because they're not actually paying for the site itself,” Cooper said. “They're just paying for the people to be poll workers and if the WCU site closes down, they're gonna move those poll workers to the other site.”
Each early voting site in Cullowhee costs close to $20,000 to operate.
The WCU precinct has been home to one of two early voting sites in Cullowhee since 2016 when a Republican majority approved a plan that placed an early voting site on campus.
It has served as the polling place for more than 76,000 voters over five general elections and four primaries. During its time on campus, the university has provided the room, IT support, overhead, and dedicated parking spaces.
An analysis by Cooper shows that the campus site has served an average of 8,417 early voters per election. The voters are also more diverse and younger than the average Jackson County voter.
“ Before the WCU site came online, youth early voting in Jackson County was pretty much indistinguishable from the rest of the state,” Cooper said. “After that site came online, however, youth turnout in Jackson County increased at a much higher rate than it did in the rest of the state.”
He added that the polling place also had the highest proportion of same-day registrations of any site in the state in eight out of the last nine elections.
Jackson County isn’t the only jurisdiction debating the closure of polling places. Similar disputes have occurred in Madison County, where officials voted to eliminate two of its three early voting sites, as previously reported by BPR.
When asked whether other counties may follow suit, Cooper said it is difficult to predict, but warned of potential consequences.
“This stuff isn’t rocket science,” Cooper said. “If you live farther from a polling site, you’re less likely to show up and vote because it takes more time and more cost on your behalf.”
