North Carolina
NC elections officials look to cut some Sunday voting, campus polling sites
Republicans took control of elections administration in mid-2025 and, in some counties, they have quickly moved to enact two longtime party goals: Eliminating Sunday hours and campus polling places during early voting.
Those decisions have now led to political disputes in a handful of counties statewide, which will be up to the GOP-majority State Board of Elections to settle in a meeting Tuesday.
The state board is scheduled to review and vote Tuesday on early voting plans in a dozen counties, including Cumberland, Harnett, Wayne and others. All failed to receive unanimous support at the county level so now require final approval by the state elections board.
The plans are for the March primaries only. But the outcomes Tuesday could give clues to how willing the state board might be to allow similar strategies in November.
Republican state lawmakers’ most recent effort to target Sunday voting — part of wider-ranging changes to state election law passed in 2013 — was struck down in federal court as unconstitutional for being motivated by intentional racial discrimination. Black voters use Sunday voting disproportionately more than white voters.
At the time, Republican lawmakers argued in court that they should be allowed to target Black voters because the majority of Black voters are affiliated with the Democratic Party. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit strongly disagreed, striking down the law in a harshly worded ruling, calling it “the most restrictive voting law North Carolina has seen since the era of Jim Crow.”
Republicans haven’t tried seriously since then to eliminate Sunday voting statewide. Some did cosponsor a bill at the legislature to do so in 2025, but GOP leaders didn’t allow it up for a vote. It remains to be seen whether new county-by-county efforts to target Sunday voting will meet similar legal fates.
So far, two small-scale efforts to target Sunday voting have been allowed in the state. WRAL reported in August that GOP officials in Davidson and Union counties asked to cut back on Sunday voting for the 2025 municipal elections, which the state elections board approved in 3-2 votes along party lines.
“I do not want us to regress back to a previous time,” Democratic board member Siobhan Millen said at the time, as she voted against those plans.
Most of the board’s Republicans offered no explanation for eliminating Sunday voting for that handful of 2025 races, WRAL reported at the time. Republican board member Stacey Eggers said he thought it was important to let elections workers get some rest.
Details of the plans
Sunday voting isn’t the only contentious topic on agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. Attempts to eliminate on-campus voting sites at N.C. A&T University, UNC-Greensboro and Western Carolina University are up for discussion. So are other contentious plans from areas including Cumberland, Harnett and Wayne counties.
The state board already approved early voting plans for most of North Carolina’s 100 counties, since most counties approved their plans in a bipartisan, unanimous fashion. Every county elections board has three Republicans and two Democrats.
Tuesday’s meeting is meant to focus on the dozen counties where March early voting plans didn’t win unanimous approval, due to political or logistical disputes.
In Cumberland County, for example, there are multiple competing issues. The county election board’s professional staff suggested using five early voting sites, all in Fayetteville. The board’s political appointees, however, want seven sites. Complicating matters further is that the board’s political appointees also don’t fully agree on where to put those extra sites. All agree with having at least five sites in Fayetteville and one in Hope Mills. But there’s a dispute over whether to put a sixth site in Fayetteville, or to open one in Spring Lake instead.
Disputed early voting plans from Guilford and Jackson counties, meanwhile, revolve around the efforts to eliminate college campus polling places. Other counties are fighting over Sunday voting, including Wayne and Pitt counties, home to Goldsboro and Greenville.
In Pitt County, the GOP majority on the county elections board says only a few dozen dozen people have bothered showing up to vote on Sundays in each of the past few primary elections. Paying to keep the sites open for such little return isn’t a good investment for the county, they argue in filings to the state, not to mention the fact that there are fewer and fewer people who want to help work at local polling places.
“Pitt County, like every other county in the state, is seeing a significant drop in civic engagement, particularly with election workers,” the board’s Republicans wrote to the state. “Finding workers to manage and work in locations, especially on Sundays, is extraordinarily difficult.”
In Harnett County, the dispute is over an attempt to shut down the polling place at Western Harnett High School in Lillington and replace it with two new sites, one at the Benhaven Community Center and the other at the Anderson Creek fire department.
The NC Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at Sunday, April 19, 2026 results for each game:
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 19 drawing
Day: 6-2-0, Fireball: 6
Evening: 4-1-7, Fireball: 5
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 19 drawing
Day: 7-6-9-4, Fireball: 4
Evening: 8-1-5-6, Fireball: 6
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 5 numbers from April 19 drawing
02-21-32-35-37
Check Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Double Play numbers from April 19 drawing
18-26-27-31-42
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 19 drawing
32-42-52-53-55, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All North Carolina Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599.
For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at North Carolina Lottery Offices. By mail, send a prize claim form, your signed lottery ticket, copies of a government-issued photo ID and social security card to: North Carolina Education Lottery, P.O. Box 41606, Raleigh, NC 27629. Prize claims less than $600 do not require copies of photo ID or a social security card.
To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a prize claim form and deliver the form, along with your signed lottery ticket and government-issued photo ID and social security card to any of these locations:
- Asheville Regional Office & Claim Center: 16-G Regent Park Blvd., Asheville, NC 28806, 877-625-6886 press #1. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Greensboro Regional Office & Claim Center: 20A Oak Branch Drive, Greensboro, NC 27407, 877-625-6886 press #2. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Charlotte Regional Office & Claim Center: 5029-A West W. T. Harris Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28269-1861, 877-625-6886 press #3. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- NC Lottery Headquarters: Raleigh Claim Center & Regional Office, 2728 Capital Blvd., Suite 144, Raleigh, NC 27604, 877-625-6886 press #4. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.
- Greenville Regional Office & Claim Center: 2790 Dickinson Avenue, Suite A, Greenville, NC 27834, 877-625-6886 press #5. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Wilmington Regional Office & Claim Center: 123 North Cardinal Drive Extension, Suite 140, Wilmington, NC 28405, 877-625-6886 press #6. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
Check previous winning numbers and payouts at https://nclottery.com/.
When are the North Carolina Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 11 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily.
- Pick 3, 4: 3:00 p.m. and 11:22 p.m. daily.
- Cash 5: 11:22 p.m. daily.
- Millionaire for Life: 11:15 p.m. daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Carolina Connect editor. You can send feedback using this form.
The North Carolina Tar Heels will be a young program across the board next season, with well over two dozen freshmen and numerous additions from the transfer portal this offseason. Expectations for the 2026 season are lowered dramatically after a disastrous first season for head coach Bill Belichick, though those expectations could help the Tar Heels fly under the radar.
As the Tar Heels approach the end of spring ball, it is time to look at the veterans of the team—the ones who have the experience to lead, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Let’s look at three underrated seniors for the 2026 football season.
Ade Willie, Cornerback
Willie joins the Tar Heels program after four years with Michigan State, as the former 4-star player in the 2022 recruiting class gets an opportunity to not only provide depth to the secondary, but potentially start Week 0 against TCU.
Willie played in over 30 games with the Spartans and brings experience in the secondary at cornerback and safety, along with quality length and closing speed to the football. For a defense that needs players to step up, the redshirt senior from IMG Academy will be asked to do so.
Isaiah Johnson, Defensive Lineman
The defensive line is beginning to look like one of the Tar Heels’ strengths for the 2026 season. Johnson, a former transfer from Arizona, enters his redshirt senior year looking to add another year of production after 40 tackles and two sacks this past season.
North Carolina has an impressive group of starters with Malkart Abou-Jaoude, Leroy Jackson, and incoming transfer Jaylen Harvey. Johnson adds value to the group as a run defender with the ability to penetrate the pocket. While not discussed as a key player, Johnson’s name will be used plenty during the regular season as a potential standout for the program’s defensive front.
Coleman Bryson, Safety
Bryson was a reserve player for the Tar Heels’ secondary last season as a big nickel defender in the rotation. Heading into his redshirt senior year, the former Minnesota Gopher is looking to become a full-time starter in the secondary.
It wasn’t long ago when Bryson was making plays as the 2022 Pinstripe Bowl Defensive MVP. His special teams abilities were valuable for North Carolina last season, and he flashed at times in coverage against tight ends, including a pass breakup in the season-opener against TCU. The Waynesville, North Carolina, native could be a key defender on the back-seven in 2026.
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Friends and family members gathered in Washington state on Saturday, remembering former Miss North Carolina Carrie Everett, who died on Easter Sunday. Another memorial service is planned in North Carolina next month.
Web Editor : Sydney Ross
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