Craven, Greene and Pitt counties will have no Sunday early voting this fall after the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved local plans in a series of 3-2 votes.
County boards had failed to reach unanimous agreements, sending the plans to the five-member state board, where Republicans backed proposals without Sunday hours and Democrats opposed them.
Pitt County's approved plan keeps the Village of Simpson site but drops Sunday afternoon voting, while Lenoir County's 3-2-approved plan keeps three sites instead of adding a fourth in Kinston.
Democrats and local advocates said Sunday hours expand access, especially for churchgoers, and Pitt County representatives said repeated partisan deadlocks had forced Raleigh to intervene in what was once a model local board.