The North Carolina State Board of Elections will set the early-voting schedule in Columbus County, after the local board failed to agree on whether to have Sunday voting ahead of the 2026 primary election.
Election boards in 12 counties throughout the state, including Columbus, did not vote unanimously on early-voting plans for the March 3 primary. Under N.C. law, the state board steps in when local boards don’t agree.
In Columbus County, Republican board member Jillian McPherson-Edge voted with Democrats Wanda Brooks and Jeffery Register in favor of early-voting on Sunday, February 16. Republicans Lynn Fairfax and Audrey Lynne Thompson voted against the plan.
In the same split, the board rejected a plan to have early voting on two Saturdays before the election, on February 21 and February 27, but not on Sundays.
Voting on Sundays has long been controversial. Some Black voters, many of whom pick Democratic candidates, participate in churches’ “souls to the polls” events on Sundays.
McPherson-Edge, chair of the local board, said she was in favor of Sunday voting because it gives everyone another chance to cast ballots. About 30% percent of Columbus County voters who cast ballots in the March 2024 primary did so at one-stop early-voting sites, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections.
“The Republicans on my board do not want Sunday voting for religious reasons; then the Democrats want Sundays because they feel like it’s more accessible to people,” McPherson-Edge told the Border Belt Independent. “I didn’t vote on either of these reasons—I voted on the numbers. People come out to vote on the weekends.”
The state legislature passed a law earlier this year that flipped control of local election boards to Republicans, stripping Democratic Gov. Josh Stein power.
At least seven of the 12 counties that did not submit unanimous early voting plans did so because they couldn’t decide whether to allow voting on at least one Sunday. Some counties, including Guilford, could not agree on whether to host early voting on college campuses. Guilford is home to UNC-Greensboro and N.C A&T University
Monisha Brooks Jones, chair of the Columbus County Democratic Party, said Sunday voting is crucial for people who have to work on weekdays and Saturdays.
“Sunday voting is a huge thing,” she said. “It’s more than just tradition—it actually answers a problem.”
It could take weeks for the state board to decide on the county’s early-voting schedule.
Brooks Jones said she had hoped to start organizing voting events soon. But she will have to wait for the state board’s plan.
“Voting on a Sunday just gives people another opportunity to get people to the poll,” she said. “I can’t see anything wrong in that.”
The Columbus County Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment for this story.