NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The 2026 statewide general election takes place in November, with early voting opening Oct. 15-31. The New Hanover County Board of Elections has laid out its early voting plan.
The plan was adopted unanimously at the Tuesday, July 14, meeting. The following locations will open Oct. 15-16, 8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 19-23: 8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 24-25: noon – 5p.m.; Oct. 26-30: 8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.; and Oct. 31: 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.:
New Hanover County Board of Elections Office
226 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, NC 2840
Carolina Beach Town Hall- Police Training Room
1121 N. Lake Park Blvd, Carolina Beach, NC 28428
MLK Community Center- Multipurpose Room
401 S 8th Street, Wilmington, NC 28401
Northeast Library- David M. Paynter Room
1241 Military Cutoff Road, Wilmington, NC 28405
Pine Valley Library- Pelican and Osprey Rooms
3802 S College Road, Wilmington, NC 28412
New Hanover Democratic Party Chair Jill Hopman spoke during public comment about early voting, supporting and commending the elections board for its plan. She noted 4.2 million voted early in the North Carolina midterms in 2024 — making up 74% of all voters, including 1.42 million Republicans and 1.36 million Democrats.
“Voting access should be a nonpartisan priority,” she said, calling it a part of best practices from the Commission on the Future of NC Elections. “We live in a uniquely purple place … it’s equally divided between the two major political parties. There is no numerical advantage here; you cannot run up a score by restricting voter access.”
Eligible voters are allowed to register and vote on the same day during early voting, as well as update voter registration information and cast their ballot at any location within the county. On Election Day, voters can only go to their assigned precincts; voter registration updates also aren’t allowed Election Day.
Newly appointed director Eric Navagh said current voter registration is “just under 190,000” in New Hanover County, but it’s continuing to grow, with roughly one-third makeup being Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters each.
The board of elections opened their early voting plan for public feedback this year. Navagh said the majority of the responses were positive for the number of sites and hours. They received 137 comments, with a star system in place and 71 five-star approvals coming in. The average rating overall was four stars.
Navagh said the few one-star reviews came from varied inquiries, the most requesting the Senior Resource Center be added as a voting site. Pine Valley Library is replacing the Senior Resource Center location to serve voters in the middle of the county.
“It’s not to disenfranchise voters at the Senior Center, but it has its own set of challenges,” Navagh said of the site.
For instance, increased traffic nearby and close to Hoggard High School has been an issue, but so have classes and events taking place at the center during voting hours. Navagh said the Pine Valley library staff won’t have programming during early voting.
The goal of the plan is to satisfy various areas of dense voter registrations, with returning sites including Carolina Beach Town Hall and Northeast Library — “one of the most frequently visited,” Navagh said of the latter.
Previously, Cape Fear Community College was used downtown but it had limitations over parking. Now, the downtown early voting site will move to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center.
“Parking downtown seems to be a confusion for folks,” he added. “While MLK is not an incredibly large parking lot, it’s readily usable.”
Board member Derrick Miller asked if the new library and museum on Grace Street was still envisioned as a possibility in the future, once fully opened.
Navagh said it’s being considered but promoting consistency is also important. Because MLK is already a popular polling location on Election Day, Navagh thought it made sense to include the site, also located in a heavily dense neighborhood.
Board member Jim Morgan pointed out a parking deck near the new museum and library also allows one-hour parking, should the site ever come up for consideration.
Requests for the Skyline Center also were suggested by the public, though curbside voting is problematic there. Navagh said they’ve investigated it and thought there were too many obstacles to overcome.
He said they also received requests for an additional northern county site, such as in the Murrayville or Castle Hayne areas. Staff is open to exploring it in the future, particularly with the new Northchase Library branch opening.
“That said, we also have to be very cost-conscious,” board of elections board member John Lyons reminded of adding more polling locations, but he praised staff for its current plan.
Estimates for staffing costs during the 2026 early voting period are roughly $33,000 for each site, for a total of $165,000.
Navagh said he looked back at 2024 and 2022 and numbers were consistent.
He added they also combatted hour-of-operations complaints from the public, such as not extending Sunday hours and, oppositely, excluding Sunday hours altogether. As well, some expressed concerns that early voting doesn’t open the first weekend after launching Thursday and Friday, Oct. 15-16. It’s normally a slow weekend, Navagh explained, and gives staff time to “calibrate” and make needed adjustments.
Miller pointed out some of the negative comments received centered on state statutes beyond the board’s control, thus many complaints were less about the actual plans. This includes someone saying “there shouldn’t be early voting” or it shouldn’t be allowed to last so many days.
“Those one stars and two stars should be sent to the state legislature and not us,” Miller quipped.
Chair Jamie Getty thought getting public feedback was the right moved to inform early voting in 2026 and called the board vote. It had to be unanimous — and was — else they would be required to submit alternative early voting plans for the North Carolina State Board of Elections to consider.
The state board still has to approve the plan.
[Ed. note: The article was updated after press to clarify the Democratic voters statewide in 2024 as 1.36 million; PCD regrets the error.]
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