Wake residents speak up for Sunday voting, ask that Chavis be an early voting site

Wake County residents filled a meeting of the board of elections on Thursday night, successfully calling for a robust early voting plan in the upcoming primary election that includes Sunday voting and use of Chavis Community Center in Raleigh as an early voting location.

“Early voting at Chavis Community Center is an asset to the southeast Raleigh community and Shaw University,” said Briona May, a Democracy Fellow with Common Cause NC and a student at Shaw University.

May noted that Chavis was not open as an early voting site in last year’s municipal election, which may have negatively impacted turnout among Shaw students and other residents in the area.

“It was by surprise that we found out that we had to cast our votes downtown,” May said. “This caused a disruption in turnout. ”

Wake County’s two elections board members, Democrat Mark Ezzell and Republican Eddie Woodhouse, ultimately agreed to adopt a plan that would include Chavis Community Center among six early voting sites for the primary.

Other early voting locations in the county will be Herbert C. Young Community Center in Cary, W.E. Hunt Community Center in Holly Springs, Lake Lynn Community Center in Raleigh and Wake County Northern Regional Center in Wake Forest, in addition to the Wake County Board of Elections office in downtown Raleigh.