Voting extended additional hour at Columbus County precinct after delayed start

COLUMBUS COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to extend voting by one hour at the Ransom precinct in Columbus County, after a technical issue resulted in a delayed start to voting.

Three precincts in Columbus County had delays to voting Tuesday morning, because election workers were unable to connect computers to the printers to access the necessary forms that voters must sign to cast a ballot. The Chadbourn precinct had a delay of one hour, 54 minutes, the delay at the Ransom precinct was one hour, 10 minutes, and Williams 1 precinct had a one-hour delay.

Staff verified that voters impacted by delays at the Chadbourn and Williams 1 precincts all returned to vote at a later time. But, not all of the impacted voters at the Ransom precinct had returned, necessitating a request for the NCSBE to consider extending voting hours. The precinct, located at 2696 General Howe Highway in Riegelwood will now remain open until 8:30 p.m.

The one-hour extension also means the absentee and early voting totals in Columbus County will not be released until the Ransom precinct closes for voting.

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