WILMINGTON — The northeast library site, the most-popular place to vote in New Hanover County, repeatedly drew the ire of the local Republican Party during election season last year. A new elections office is slated to fix the issue.
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners signed off Monday on an amendment to its contract with firm Cape Fear FD Stonewater to build out an elections facility for $5.6 million at the new government center. The building will stand apart from the main center, constructed on a piece of land where the current county manager and attorney suite is located.
There was already money for the building in this fiscal year’s budget; the commissioners just needed to approve the plans. The New Hanover County Board of Elections has been based out of the library on Military Cutoff Road since it quietly moved there in September 2021. Its old office was blocked off because of the new government center’s construction.
For the past two years the location has been criticized by the GOP. While staff could reach curbside voting spaces through the staff-only exit at the back of the Paynter Room, poll observers are required to exit through the front and walk around the building to reach on-the-go voters.
The issue was a topic of debate, presented by the GOP multiple times during public comment periods at meetings this fall, debated by board of elections members and the subject of internal email exchanges. Staff pushed back on allowing observers to use the same exit because they wanted to cut back on foot traffic and it raised concerns over ballot privacy, with observers being possibly too close to voters.
The GOP never conceded that it would be an issue to have observers walk through the staff area, though it never had the power to make a change because of the Democrat-majority BOE.
“It’s one of those things that should be an easy fix,” New Hanover Republican Party Chair Will Knecht said. “It just befuddles me.”
Knecht said poll observers did not become a focus for the party until 2020 and the objective is to “come alongside the board of elections to counter any type of false claim that there is any kind of election shenanigans going on.”
He also maintains the local party’s position is to make it “easy to vote, hard to cheat” and that efforts are not intended to suppress votes.
Board of elections director Rae Hunter-Havens said the new facility will solve concerns via a dedicated sidewalk. The new facility has parking spaces placed directly in front of the entrance as well to allow staff to easily reach curbside voters.
While discussing the plans Monday, chief facilities officer Sara Warmuth outlined the new accommodations. One side of the building is dominated by an early voting area with 45 voting booths, multiple entrances, a check-in and ballot drop-off location, as well as its own bathrooms.
The rest of the building will be made up of office space, a dedicated board room, secure storage and an area to process mail-in ballots.
GOP will have to contend with one more election cycle at the library site, which currently is out of space. Board of elections meetings are open to the public but can currently accommodate only about a dozen audience members. Spectators are seated only a few feet in front of the board, which sits at a makeshift dais.
When early votes are tabulated during the routine meetings held ahead of election dates, attendees have to be cleared out of the room so it can be rearranged for everyone to see the machine.
Commissioner Rob Zapple said he did not see an area in the current floor plan with enough space to work for both the board and the public.
“Over the years, the public interest in [meetings], especially around election times, has increased,” Zapple said.
Warmuth clarified, in addition to the board room in the floor plan, the larger voting room can be converted to host meetings and there is shared space available in the main government center building.
The first floor of the center is dominated by an open customer service space where county staff can meet with people for the litany of permitting and planning services it provides.
“The first-floor space, which is really where our offices would need to be, was not conducive to the size of our operations with the other needs of that space for general county operations,” Hunter-Havens said.
Construction on the 7,500-square-foot facility will begin after the current government center is demolished in April. The work is expected to stretch through April 2024 and the building should be ready for that year’s presidential election.
The board unanimously approved the project.
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