LUMBERTON — Three Lumberton polling sites will be relocated on Election Day because of Hurricane Matthew, according to G.L. Pridgen, director of the Robeson County elections board.
The affected polling sites that will be relocated are Precinct 17, West Lumberton Hut on Buchanan Street; Precinct 16, South Lumberton Resource Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive; and Precinct 12, Bill Sapp Recreation Center on Cedar Street.
“We will aggressively try to notify all affected voters using signage, posters and media to alert the voters of the changes to their voting sites. We will post signs at each early voting site and the original voting sites,” a statement from Pridgen reads.
According to the statement, the South and West Lumberton sites cannot be used because of damage from the Oct. 8 storm. Bill Sapp cannot be used as a polling site because the building is serving as an emergency shelter for those displaced by flooding.
The West Lumberton Hut polling place will be moved about one mile to the O.P. Owens Agriculture Building at 455 Caton Road. The South Lumberton site will be moved about one mile to Lumberton Fire Department No. 3, 801 Dunn Road. The Bill Sapp site will be moved three blocks to Pine Street Senior Center, 801 N. Pine St.
Anyone with questions can call the Board of Elections at 910-671-3080.
Representatives from the U.S. Justice Department will be monitoring Robeson County’s election on Tuesday, as well as polling sites in Cumberland, Forsyth and Wake counties.
No reason for the check was given in a brief memo from the North Carolina Board of Elections to elections officials in those counties. The precincts those monitors will visit were not named.
“The State Board of Elections is aware that the U.S. Department of Justice will be monitoring certain precincts within your county on Election Day,” the memo says. “Chief judges in the precincts must allow these federal observers within the voting place.”
Robeson’s 2014 election also saw federal oversight.
The Justice Department regularly monitors elections in the field. Anyone who observes violations of voting rights at the polls should call 1-800-253-3931, email voting.section@usdoj.gov, or file a complaint form at justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake.
“We are glad the Justice Department is taking seriously the proven past behavior of Democrat illegal activity in Robeson county. Their assistance in protecting everybody’s rights is welcome and this is a good day for justice,” said Robeson County GOP Chair Phillip Stephens.
Voters have today, Friday and Saturday left to vote ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Ballots can be cast today and Friday at the Board of Elections or five satellite sites around the country. On Saturday, the last day of early voting, voters may only use the Board of Elections site.
The satellite sites will be open today and Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The sites are: Fairmont Senior Center, 421 S. Main St.; Maxton Public Library, 210 N. Florence St.; Pembroke Public Library, 413 S. Blaine St.; Red Springs Community Center, 122 Cross St.; and St. Pauls Town Hall, 210 W. Blue St.
Ballots can be cast at the Elections Office today and Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day; and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Board of Elections is located at 800 N. Walnut St.
