Last week, messages were exposed from Granville County Board of Elections Secretary Debby Butler and Michael Magnanti, a former chairman of the Granville County Republican Party, that showed Magnanti spoonfeeding Butler on what to say about the early voting site plan that aligns with the Republican agenda.
The contents of the controversial voting site, spearheaded by Republican board members, are as follows:
- close a popular early voting site
- move another heavily used site from its downtown location
- open an early voting site in northern Granville
The decision on the plan is crucial, as the focal point of the Republican early voting site plan would axe two locations that over 70% of Granville County residents have historically used for voting. These locations are the South Branch Library and Oxford Public Works.
Democrats wanted to keep the South Branch Library and Oxford Public Works sites open. Republicans wanted to close the popular South Branch Library site, move another heavily used site from its downtown location, and open an early voting site in northern Granville.
If a decision is made in favor of the Republican early voting plan, it will make it harder for Black voters and people without transportation to vote. Nearly 90% of Black early voters use either the South Branch Library or Oxford Public Works sites to vote.
“There is no logical reason to close those two early voting sites unless the goal is to diminish access for the significant number of our county’s voters,” she said. “And I know that isn’t your goal. Right?” said Porscha Lopes, head of the Granville League of Women Voters.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections – led by Auditor Dave Boliek – has had an interesting couple of months. County board elections liaison, Republican Dallas Woodhouse, resigned after being caught directing some counties’ early voting plans to be aligned with Republican priorities.
An investigation revealed that Woodhouse texted the Jackson County Elections Board chair, “Don’t let them have a vote,” about an early voting site at Western Carolina University, an important voting site that the State Board of Elections voted to close earlier this year to disenfranchise voters.
“Wednesday night, our neighbors stood at a public microphone & asked their elections board to keep voting close to home. We now know that, after they were done speaking, at least one board member appears to have been reading her answers off a phone—answers written by a political operative in the audience. The people of Granville County deserve a nonpartisan election board that answers to them. Not to the state auditor, not to a party chairman’s text thread. Them,” said Liz Purvis, Chair of the Granville County Democratic Party.
Democrats are taking a stand against the underhanded atrocities happening in the State Board of Elections by calling for a formal investigation in response to the leaked photos with the text messages. The Granville State Board of Elections demands that the State Board of Elections:
- Reject the contested plan that keeps the popular voting sites open and also add a county-funded new site in northern Granville.
- Formally investigate the direction of sitting county board members by an outside party operative.
- Board members Debby Butler and Douglas Smith must publicly account for underhanded communications and recuse or resign from any further deliberation on the early voting plan until the accounting is done.
- All behind-the-scenes records related to the plan must be preserved, including all forms of communication.
