The Board of Elections Chairman, Bobby Ludlum, sent the Bladen County consolidation request to Raleigh yesterday, seeking approval of the plan to combine the Elizabethtown Voting Precincts 1&2 and Bladenboro Voting Precincts 1&2 into a single location in each town. “The consolidation plan would, if approved, reduce the confusion on Election Day because if there is only one polling place, people won’t go to the wrong one by mistake,” said Bobby Ludlum.
There has been a lot of discussion on this issue and the Board of Elections is trying to make it easy on everyone, not just the voters, but the poll workers, too. The proposed consolidation request now goes to the State Board of Elections in Raleigh, and will be decided by the Director of the State Board of Elections. That decision will be the final word on the subject.
“There is the possibility that the State Board will decline the request. Since the date for the North Carolina Primary has been moved up from May to March, the folks in Raleigh may be too busy to get it done in time for the Primary,” Ludlum stated. “We have about a 50/50 chance, we will have to wait and see what Raleigh says.”
Candidates begin filing in December, and then the Primary will be held in March. If the plan is approved, the Bladen County Board of Elections will send out notification letters to all registered voters using the addresses the voters used when they registered.
“We have a list of addresses that were invalid from the last time we sent out notifications. We have sent that list to the local Chairpersons of both parties, and ask that they try to reach those voters to obtain correct addresses,” Ludlum said.
Another meeting of the Bladen County Board of Elections is scheduled for November 4th.
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