QUESTION: Are partisan groups allowed to set up tables and tents in front of the local elections office so they can intercept voters who want to cast early ballots in this year’s nonpartisan municipal elections?
ANSWER: Members of Alamance County’s Democratic Party have been a fixture on the grounds of the county’s elections office ever since early voting began ahead of next week’s elections.
Come rain or shine, these volunteers have kept up their vigil for two weeks and running to promote fellow Democrats who are seeking elected offices in Alamance County’s cities and towns. Nor has the uniformly nonpartisan status of these offices done anything to discourage their efforts on behalf of the party.
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According to the county’s elections director Dawn Hurdle, partisan organizations have the same right to approach voters outside the elections office as nonpartisan outfits and individual candidates. In each case, they’re allowed to go about their business so long as they steer clear of the well-marked areas where campaigning is strictly prohibited.
Hurdle added that, out of an abundance of caution, she consulted various people about the propriety of partisan campaigning before the first ballots were cast on October 16.
“I met with both party chairs prior to early voting,” she went on to recall in an interview Tuesday, “and I contacted my county attorney to make sure they had permission to set up tables outside the bumper zone. I was told that they can put tents up during the day, and they can remain there as long as they’re obeying the guidelines.”
Hurdle added that, so far, she hasn’t had any reason to take issue with electoral kibitzers who’ve been camped out in front of her office.
“I did have to call one candidate yesterday because they left a tent up,” she conceded, “but it wasn’t there when I got here this morning…Other than that, I haven’t had any issues and I haven’t had any complaints.”
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