Orange County Voting Precincts Receive Updates, Early Voting Location Added

The voting precincts in Orange County saw changes enacted on January 1 of the new year, shifting where some residents may be voting in the upcoming primary elections in March.

The 44 pre-existing precincts have been altered to 41 precincts, with some areas being combined and others being split.

Director of the Orange County Board of Elections Rachel Raper says all of North Carolina had not been able to alter precinct lines since 2015 due to state laws. In 2019, she says, the county was given approval to change its lines.

“The board looked at our precinct lines, Election Day turnout versus early voting turnout,” says Raper, “and had a conversation about how we can make voting more efficient for voters on Election Day.”

One of the spots Raper says the board looks to improve turnout is UNC’s campus. She says prior to the changes, the university’s campus and student living areas within Chapel Hill had been split into four precincts since the 1970s.

“My precinct officials on Election Day would come back with reports of students who were ping-ponging between precincts,” says Raper, “because they didn’t understand what or where their precinct was. They would say, ‘Well, if this dorm beside my dorm goes to this election precinct, why don’t I?’”

Now, there’s a single UNC precinct that encompasses all of campus and most of Franklin Street. Students and campus community will now go to the Sonja Haynes Stone Center to vote.

Raper says while a large portion of the UNC community votes early at other locations, she believes the change will encourage more students to vote and not be deterred by as many locations.

“When a first-time voter goes to an incorrect precinct and is told they can vote a provisional ballot or to go to their correct precinct,” says Raper, “I think they can be frustrated in the process. I’m filled with confidence now when students and the UNC community goes to vote, there’s one voting to location to choose from as opposed to three or five.”

In addition to the new UNC precinct, the Board of Elections created a brand-new precinct in Hillsborough. Parts of six different precincts were taken to create Hillsborough East, which Raper says reacts to and prepares for further growth within the town. She also says it gave the board an opportunity to move precinct boundaries off township lines, which sometimes splits neighborhoods and even houses.

“Township lines will cut across property and houses, which sometimes leads us to uncomfortable conversations,” says Raper. “[We have said before] ‘point to where you sleep in your house,’ because where you lay your head at night with intention to return determines where you vote.”

The changes to precincts won’t matter for early voting, but there is a change in those locations too. A new polling location has been added to the county’s five other spots, located in the University Place central mall building by the former Southern Season store. Early voting for the primaries begins February 13.

For more information on the precinct changes and early voting locations, visit the Orange County Board of Elections website.