The Watauga County Board of Elections is awaiting review from the State Board of Elections after going 2-1 on a primary election early voting plan that excludes an ASU site.
Republican majority Board of Elections members include Chairman Bill Aceto and newly appointed Nancy Owen of Banner Elk. The Democrat minority member is Stella Anderson, an ASU professor.
Aceto and Owen voted in favor of the plan citing the “perspective of convenience” that must be considered when providing early voting locations. Owen explained that residents in far reaches of the county may drive as much as an hour and a half to vote while those on campus have a short walk to the county administration building.
In a letter to State Board of Elections members, Anderson said, “The Aceto/Owen refusal to include an ASU Student Union one-stop site is an abuse of discretion and has no reasonable basis.”
The letter argues that ASU provides 50 parking spots for voters, 50 percent of campus voters were over the age of 25, and that the site saw the most voters per hour in both the 2012 primary and 2014 general election.
In a similar appeal for the majority plan, Aceto wrote, “I feel very strongly that the One-stop implementation plan adopted by the majority is the most comprehensive, fair, geographically appropriate, and best use of the resources for the upcoming election.”
His statement reasoned that electioneering, budget allocations, and the existence of the state mandated voting site at the Watauga County Administration Building led to his decision to exclude ASU from the majority plan.
In 2014, a Watauga Board of Elections squabble over the ASU site resulted in a review by the State Board of Elections and a lawsuit filed by local citizens. The case went to a superior court where it was deemed “arbitrary and capricious” to exclude the site and ordered for it to be included.
“I wanted to assert my right to vote here and address the issue of removing the on-campus voting site which was done for no other reason that making it more difficult for students, faculty, and staff to vote,” Alaina Doyle, a current student and petitioner in the 2014 lawsuit, said.
Whether the final plan includes an early voting site at ASU or not, the Student Government Association plans to focus on getting students to register and vote in the primary.
“A lot of our efforts right now are focused on educating students of what they’re voting on, who they’re voting for, what the dates are, and where these polls are going to be,” SGA President Carson Rich said.
A public relations officer for the State Board of Elections confirmed that they will review the Watauga County early voting plan on Wednesday, Feb.10 at 2:00 p.m. during the next board meeting. Interested parties may listen online or by phone.
Produced for COM2610 at Appalachian State University.