North Carolina

Early voting extended in NC Congress race after Hurricane Dorian

RALEIGH, N.C. — Early in-person voting for a closely watched North Carolina congressional race has been extended in counties that shuttered voting sites this week as Hurricane Dorian brought strong winds and heavy rains.

The State Board of Elections said that voting in Cumberland, Scotland, Robeson and Bladen counties resumed Friday for the 9th Congressional District special election and also would be held Saturday, ending in the early evening at some locations.

Early voting in other 9th District counties further inland that didn't halt balloting - Mecklenburg, Union, Anson and Richmond - will end late Friday as state law originally directed.

Early voting began Aug. 21 for two special congressional elections in the 9th and 3rd districts. Election day for both is Tuesday.

Early-vote extensions also were being considered for this weekend in the coastal 3rd District, where all 17 counties closed sites as early as Wednesday due to Dorian and remained closed Friday. A 3rd District decision wasn't immediately announced as the storm still moved through the district's counties on Friday afternoon.

Board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell can use emergency powers when an election schedule is disrupted during a natural disaster. Republican Dan Bishop and Democrat Dan McCready - the top candidates running in the 9th District - had urged Bell for early vote extensions in all the district's counties this weekend, with McCready asking it to continue through Monday.

But Bell wrote in her order that extending hours in only the counties that closed voting sites "ensure that voters across the district are given a fair opportunity to participate in the election." Additional hours had to be considered alongside county election staffing demands and preparations for Tuesday's traditional balloting, such as the creation of poll books, she wrote.

[CLICK HERE FOR REAL-TIME UPDATES ON DORIAN]

The 9th District race is happening because state officials ordered a new election there after evidence of absentee ballot fraud in last fall's election. Voters in the 3rd District are deciding between Democrat Allen Thomas, Republican Greg Murphy and two other candidates to fill the vacancy caused by February's death of GOP Rep. Walter Jones Jr.

During early-in person voting, people can register to vote and cast ballots at the same time. Same-day registrations can't occur on election day. Mail-in absentee ballots also can be cast.