The Buncombe County Board of Elections wants to reduce early voting hours ahead of the 2016 primary by nearly 40 percent from four years ago, prompting concern by the local branch of the NAACP that problems will result.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports polling sites will be open for 791 hours in 2016, down from 1,287 in 2012.
The March 15 primary will be the first election in which a new state law requiring voters to have photo identification will be in effect. The Asheville-Buncombe Branch of the NAACP says the photo ID requirement and the shorter hours together will cause "unnecessary delays and discourage voter participation."
Some Board of Elections members say the change of hours was inevitable under state law, and that they don't expect problems.
