Duplin County continues early voting after elections board slashes Sunday hours across state

DUPLIN COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - Early voting polls have been open in North Carolina for a little over a week. Duplin County had one of the only open early voting locations across Eastern Carolina on Sunday.

Anyone looking to vote on Sunday may be out of luck, as some counties no longer have it.

The State Board of Elections voted to eliminate Sunday hours for five counties at a January 13th meeting. Some counties say there aren’t enough voters who come out on Sundays to justify staffing the polls.

Duplin County resident Jeraldine Rainey advocates for Sunday voting because of what she says is its place in history.

“Early voting originated with older Black people coming out on Sunday after church to come and vote,” said Rainey. “It was a tradition — it’s not as much as it used to be, but it’s still here, and this is Black History Month, so we are trying to get people to come out because they’re trying to take early.”

Another resident, Percy Girley, said the option works for people with busy schedules.

“I’m very excited, I’m very happy they’re doing this. There are a lot of people that have busy things during the week and on Saturdays, but this is convenient, and I appreciate that,” Girley said.

Duplin County resident James Casteen said Sunday voting is vital to getting people’s voices heard.

“I think it’s vital that people have the opportunity to come out and vote early — with people with their work schedules, it makes it hard coming out on election day, so early voting is a key, I think, in getting the numbers that they really need for where the people’s voices can be,” Casteen said.

Early voting ahead of the March 3rd primary continues until Saturday, February 28th.