Two of three members of the Watauga County Board of Elections wanted to extend early voting hours because it snowed last week. Stacy “Four” Eggers IV cast the dissenting vote.

“[Board member Rusty Henson] and I felt that there was a significant downturn in expected numbers of early voters at both the courthouse and the ASU early voting locations on Monday and most certainly on Tuesday. In fact, the courthouse was closed on Tuesday until 10 a.m., which definitely restricted the hours of operation at that location,” [Chairwoman Stella] Anderson said.

Noting waiting times were two hours long in some places, the State Board of Elections instructed local boards to extend early voting hours if necessary. The longest waits in Watauga County were fifteen minutes, and that was because frats and sororities came to vote as a group. Since the Watauga County board’s vote was not unanimous, the extension did not go into effect. An appeal to the state board just sat until it was too late to do anything.