A GOP county elections board member said he was warned against voting for a campus polling site [View all]

A Republican member of the Jackson County Board of Elections said he was pressured to vote to keep an early voting site off Western Carolina University’s campus this fall.

That member, Jay Pavey, voted for a plan that included a WCU early voting polling place, despite what he said were threats from his party to remove him from the board if he did.

“‘I’ve been told that if I don’t vote a particular way, that they will, they will do whatever they have to do to remove me from the board,” Pavey said.

Jackson County Elections Board Chairman Bill Thompson also said he’d been getting “pressure from above” to prevent the campus from hosting an early voting site for the fall election. His was the sole vote against placing a site on the university campus.



https://ncnewsline.com/2026/06/03/a-gop-county-elections-board-member-said-he-was-warned-against-voting-for-a-campus-polling-site/