I want to thank the Rowan County Board of Elections for reopening the discussion about the 2026 Early Voting plan and scheduling a special meeting on July 8 at 12:30 at the Rowan Elections Board to do so. They recognized the public displeasure at their decision to give the State Board of Elections the power to formulate the final Early Voting calendar for Rowan county voters.
It is my hope that a compromise plan can be reached that benefits the voters of Rowan county. It is important that members take the time to consider and review the voting record in Rowan County. At the June 10 meeting, it was noted that the information provided by Member Elaine Hewitt could be updated. Indeed, Hewitt compared turnout data from 2018 and 2022 to claim the number of early voting days does not impact total turnout. However, total turnout only shows whether voters turned out, not how the early voting plan impacted their ability to turn out. When considering an early voting plan, the board should account for how much voters have come to rely on early voting, particularly weekend early voting.
Early voting is often the most popular form of voting in Rowan and the percentage of early voters is increasing. Over 70 percent of Rowan County voters voted early in 2024, compared to 64 percent in 2020 and 59 percent in 2016. (https://dl.ncsbe.gov/?prefix=ENRS/ – under “history_stats” file)
Midterm elections have also shown a near majority of early voters, with 47 percent in 2018 and 48 percent in 2020 choosing that option. (https://dl.ncsbe.gov/?prefix=ENRS/ (under “history_stats” file)
The number of early voters in Rowan County will likely continue to trend upward, particularly during another General Election. In fact, Rowan County voters are more likely to vote during the weekend.
Since 2018, the rates of voting have been higher on weekend early voting days than on weekdays. (https://dl.ncsbe.gov/?prefix=ENRS/)
Weekend hours are consistently higher in voters-per-hour than weekdays, meaning that weekend voting sees higher voter traffic than weekday voting.
In 2018 in particular, when there was only one day of weekend early voting, weekend voting saw more than double the voters-per-hour compared to weekday voting: this means that for every hour of weekend voting offered, more than twice as many people voted per hour compared to a weekday hour.
This does not show that all weekend voters shift their plans to vote on the one weekend day — it shows that people are more likely to turn out to vote on the weekends, and eliminating weekend voting options means that many people may lose out on an opportunity to vote if they cannot accommodate the one weekend day of voting.
On America’s 250th birthday, we should be honoring freedom and democracy by making voting as accessible as possible.
Nan Lund lives in Salisbury.
