The day after Anson County election board members chose between early voting plans, Election Director Neva Helms and Republican Board Chair Kelly Newton received a text from Dallas Woodhouse, the state auditor’s liaison with county boards of election.
“We are going to have to redo that early voting plan,” he wrote.
Woodhouse resigned Monday after a series of his suggestions to county boards became public.
In late 2024, state lawmakers transferred the governor’s power to appoint county election board chairs and State Board of Elections members to the recently elected Republican state auditor, Dave Boliek. As a result, each of the state’s election boards shifted from 3-2 Democratic to Republican majorities.
Under the new law, most of election boards’ business would remain independent of the auditor’s office, with the exception of the initial appointments and budget oversight.
However, since election boards shifted, some feel like the auditor has blurred the lines of his authority. In public records, Woodhouse takes center stage in conversations with county election board members and staff about early voting plans for the 2026 election.
Early voting decisions are always ripe for drama, but in the first major election since the election boards’ party shift, tensions have escalated. So far, 18 county boards have disagreed over early voting decisions, compared to 13 nonunanimous plans in the last 2022 midterm election.
There is still time to come to an agreement before the July 24 deadline.
Anson County re-do?
In early May, Anson County Election Director Helms got an email from Woodhouse.
Woodhouse attached a proposed early voting plan, which would reallocate six Sunday voting hours from the 2022 midterm plan to the first two Saturdays of the early voting period, according to a Carolina Public Press records request. The resolution stated that the move “preserves and enhances voter access while aligning voting opportunities with historically higher-utilization days in Anson County.”
However, when the county board met, Helms provided three staff recommendations.
The first option did not include any Saturday or Sunday early voting hours, except the legally required last Saturday before Election Day. The second included a Sunday early voting day. The third was Woodhouse’s recommendation, which included two additional Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and no Sundays.
During the June 9 meeting, the county board majority voted for the first plan, while the two board Democrats objected. As with all nonunanimous plans, Anson County’s early voting schedule was then sent to the State Board of Elections for a final decision sometime in July or August.
The next day, Woodhouse texted Helms and Republican Board Chair Kelly Newton.
“We are going to have to redo that early voting plan,” he wrote. “We simply can’t cut nearly 60 early voting hours. GOP NCSBE can’t stomach that and really neither can we.”
Newton pushed back, asking why the plan wasn’t good enough when it met state law’s minimum requirements.
Woodhouse said he thought the plan would not be approved by the State Board of Elections.
Later in the conversation, Woodhouse suggested using newly available money discovered in their budget to bring the matter back up for reconsideration.
He emphasized the importance of getting to a unanimous decision. Newton and Helms appeared hesitant, and indicated that board Democrats would not change their minds about Sunday early voting.
Woodhouse outlined a plan for Helms to approach board Democrats with a deal: we’ll give you extra Saturday hours if you vote for a unanimous plan.
“Fact is GOP voters need hours beyond 8-5 and some Saturdays is good,” Woodhouse texted.
A few weeks later, on June 26, Woodhouse reminded Newton to revise the early voting plan. Still, Newton was hesitant. He asked whether they could stick with their original plan — “the best option in my humble opinion,” he texted — and have Woodhouse’s plan as a backup.
“We need you guys to pass a revised plan,” Woodhouse responded. “No Sundays is fine but we have to have some week day hours extended and Saturday hours. we can then back up a divided plan at the state.”
The Anson County board’s Tuesday, July 14, meeting agenda includes reconsideration of the early voting plan.
Woodhouse resigned from the auditor’s office effective Monday, July 13.
In his resignation letter, he said that early voting decisions are among the most difficult local election officials make, considering every county’s unique features,challenges and expectations.
“There is rarely a perfect answer, and reasonable people frequently reach different conclusions,” he wrote.
“I am certain that my advice was not always correct. Looking back, there are recommendations I might make differently today. I certainly would have been more precise in my communications at times.”
Woodhouse said he made his recommendations with honesty and integrity, with the sole objective of helping county boards follow the law “while improving voter access and strengthening public confidence in our elections.”
Auditor’s office weighs in on early voting plans
Helms and Newton weren’t the only ones to receive texts, emails and calls from Woodhouse or other representatives of the auditor’s office in recent months about their early voting plans. But not many listened.
Drama ensued in Jackson County last month when one Republican election board member resigned in protest before the early voting plan meeting and another voted with Democrats in the face of what they said was pressure from the auditor’s office and other groups to exclude a Western Carolina University campus early voting site.
In Columbus County, Woodhouse texted election staff on May 27 advising them to choose three specific early voting sites for the upcoming election, in Whiteville, Chadbourn and Tabor City, according to public records shared with Carolina Public Press.
A few weeks before, the county elections chair had floated the idea of dropping from five to one early voting site based on rising costs and low voter participation, with plans to discuss in June.
“I agree 5 is overkill, but we can’t go below 3,” Woodhouse texted. “Those are the largest towns and geographically diverse. It matches some other key goals as well.”
He did not clarify what those goals were.
In a packed meeting, the Columbus County board’s majority ultimately voted for four early voting sites, while the minority insisted on keeping five. The plan will go to the State Board for a final decision. They may pick the majority plan, minority plan or choose one of their own.
The auditor’s office made suggestions in other places, too. In Cabarrus County, emails between the county election director and assistant county manager reveal that the auditor wanted an early voting site in Midland. The county is still figuring out its plans.
Woodhouse called Alamance County election chair Kevin Patrick Harrison after they passed a unanimous plan asking about a potential site in the southern part of the county. The county has not changed its plan.
In a phone call, he also told Granville County election board chair Larue Ulshafer that the auditor preferred to keep four early voting sites, despite tight county budgets, according to emails between Ulshafer and the county election director.
During a June 16 meeting, Ulshafer advocated for moving two early voting sites away from Creedmoor and downtown Oxford, places where Democrats have greater odds of winning, to more rural, northern Stovall and a location five miles south of the city. He also voted to remove another Creedmoor site altogether, which would put the county at three sites.
During the discussion, Ulshafer referred to the auditor as “the boss” and said he was working toward a “vision” he heard him describe in a Raleigh meeting.
“The boss said, ‘my vision is we have free and equal voting across the county’ — north, south and central — and that’s what we’re working towards,” Ulshafer said.
Ulshafer has since resigned, and did not respond to a request for comment. During a July 15 special meeting, the board will reconsider their early voting plans.
In Randolph County, auditor’s office representative Kirk O’Steen asked election board chair Aundrea Azelton to add a site in Liberty, in the county’s northeastern corner, based on size and population growth. The board declined.
Woodhouse suggested exchanging a Sunday early voting day for a Saturday in a text to Pasquotank County chair Larry Beatty. If he did so, he would be “adding voting opportunities, saving money and giving staff much needed day off,” Woodhouse wrote.
Ultimately, Pasquotank County’s election board disagreed on whether to include two Saturdays or a Saturday and a Sunday, as well as their site location and hours. Their plan will go to the State Board.
After news media reports alleging auditor interference proliferated, Woodhouse was reassigned to a different role within the auditor’s office.
Nonunanimous early voting plans
Before Barbara Hilty was McDowell County’s election board chair, she helped recruit poll workers for the Republican Party. It was a “really, really, really hard” job, she said.
Combined with continued financial recovery needs from Hurricane Helene, Hilty feels it’s best to have only the one statutorily required Saturday of early voting.
“Saving a little bit of money right now is important in McDowell County,” she said.
Hilty did talk to Woodhouse last fall about his suggestion to add a third early voting site in the northern part of the county. Even though it might benefit Republicans, she said it’s not worth it; the northern region is mountainous and everyone who lives there has to come down to grocery shop or go to the post office anyways.
The Democratic minority preferred two or three Saturdays, which means McDowell County’s plan will go to the State Board.
Nearly all county-level disagreements involved Saturday or Sunday early voting days.
Historically, Democrats have supported Sunday voting more than Republicans. While Democrats may feel that Sunday events like Souls to the Polls benefit voters of their party, Republicans typically cite Sunday as a religious day of rest.
While it’s not as pronounced, Democrats also tend to support Saturday voting more on the grounds that it provides more options for working people. Republicans sometimes argue that North Carolina’s two-and-a-half week early voting period and no-excuse absentee voting gives people plenty of opportunity to cast a ballot without weekends.
During the 2026 primary election, 13 counties lost a day of Sunday early voting compared to the 2022 primary — six unanimously, seven after a State Board decision.
However, there were actually 69 more early voting weekend hours across the state in the 2026 primary compared to the 2022 primary, thanks to several shifts from Saturday to Sunday voting.
Iredell County board members also split over weekend hours. Board Democrat Ginky Torres said they budgeted for two Saturdays earlier in the year, but plans changed during the actual meeting to discuss early voting plans.
Republican June Reeves voted against the two-Saturday plan, saying that she preferred just one Saturday based on “fiscal responsibility,” Torres recounted.
It left a sour taste in Torres’ mouth, she said. She prefers three Saturdays because of the accessibility for working people, but typically compromises on two for the sake of having a unanimous plan that doesn’t have to go to the state, which doesn’t understand the county’s needs as well as they do.
“We put our Democrat or Republican hat at the door,” she said.
Legislature’s early voting plans
All this comes as lawmakers consider cutting North Carolina’s early voting period from 17 days to 10 or seven.
While it’s unlikely that they’ll have time to pass a law cutting early voting before the upcoming general election, legislative leaders have expressed interest in trimming down the primary election early voting period, at the very least.
In response, several House Democrats sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment that would lock in a minimum 14-day early voting period permanently, if a majority of voters agreed.
One of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Rodney Pierce, D-Halifax, said early voting has become the way North Carolinians prefer to vote, regardless of party affiliation.
In 2024, 74% of voters cast their ballots early, for example.
“If this is the way that people have chosen to engage in our democracy, then we should try to make sure that we keep it in place and that we protect it, and that’s what this amendment does,” Pierce said.
The amendment would not require Sunday voting, but would make sure it’s allowed. It would also allow the state legislature to help counties with election costs.
“It provides certainty for voters, stability for election administrators and confidence that fundamental access to early voting cannot be dramatically reduced without first asking the people of North Carolina,” Pierce said.
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