UPDATE: On August 23, the Orange County local government announced that early voting in Carrboro would be shifted from the facility at 203 South Greensboro Street to the town-owned building 108 Bim Street. The move was cited as caused by construction for the Orange County Library Southern Branch not being completed by October.
Below is the original story, which was published on July 2. All other early voting locations are accurate.
The Orange County Board of Elections recently finalized and shared its list of early voting locations for the 2024 general election — and while most are familiar sites, one stands to be quite new to the community.
The list of six locations, as well as dates and hours for the early voting cycle, was shared on the county government’s website toward the end of June. Once again, Chapel Hill will see the majority of early voting sites, as the Chapel of the Cross on East Franklin Street, the Seymour Senior center off Homestead Road and the Chapel Hill Public Library will all welcome voters. Additionally, the Efland-Cheeks Community Center and the Orange Works facility on Mayo Street also return as early voting sites from the primary election cycle earlier this year.
But Carrboro’s will be different this fall. The Board of Elections approved the Orange County Library Southern Branch facility at 203 South Greensboro Street as the town’s lone early voting site. The project, which is continuing construction, is set to bring a new library to residents while offering more space for town offices and some community groups. The early voting activities will take place in some of the building’s multi-purpose rooms, representing another way the local governments envision the joint project will bring new elements to downtown Carrboro.
Photo via the Town of Carrboro.
The change comes as Carrboro has shuffled its early voting sites in recent years, moving the activity from the council chambers in the town hall at 301 West Main Street to an annexed building at 108 Bim Street in 2021. Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee spoke with 97.9 The Hill about the choice to move again, saying it came down to the space offered at the Bim Street building.
“It seemed that there were complaints from voters and also Board of Elections staff that were just wasn’t adequate room,” said the mayor. “This is going to be a really big election [in November,] right? So, just [out of] anticipation that they would need more space and [because] they knew the building was going to be coming online, we just went ahead and went into agreement with them to go ahead and move it [to 203 South Greensboro Street.]”
Foushee said while the space will be much bigger for Carrboro residents, she does hold some reservations about having a third local early voting site in four years. She said it will be important for the town and county to communicate the change so people can create a voting plan and limit any confusion.
“That was a big concern of mine for moving it,” Foushee said. “I understand the [space] concern, but for me, it was about educating the public about the move, why, and folks having access to the information. Because folks really were just getting accustomed to coming to Bim Street — but now folks are going to have to go downtown and we have to really advertise that information.”
The 203 Project replaces a public parking lot that helped serve small businesses and downtown. Once completed, the library — which will be dedicated with a new name close to its opening — will also offer a parking deck with 171 vehicle spaces and 70 bike parking spots, meant for both library patrons and the community writ large. According to the town government, the new facility is on track to finish construction and open this fall.
Among the early voting details shared is that Orange County’s six sites will remain open through the entire early voting window of Thursday, October 17 through Saturday, November 2. All early voting sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Additional early voting and 2024 general election information for Orange County voters can be found on the county government’s website.
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