There will be no Sunday voting this year after a decision by the Scotland County Board of Elections on Monday.

Citing timing, scheduling and budgetary obstacles, the board voted unanimously to stick by an earlier decision not to allow Sunday voting.

A letter from Scotland County’s Democratic Women advocating that the additional voting day be allowed prompted the vote. The auxiliary group asked that the board consider exchanging its lone Saturday voting day for a Sunday of voting.

According to Director Dell Parker, such a move would not be possible due to the state’s requirement that the day of Saturday voting must be maintained.

The board also determined that, even if they did vote to add a Sunday of voting, there would likely not be enough time to add the day this close to the election. Due to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 any changes to the voting schedule must get NC Department of Justice Approval. Such approval could take as long as 60 days to receive. Only 56 days remain until the election.

“It doesn’t seem fiscally justifiable to put people to work manning One Stop voting for an entire day when our budget is already beyond tight,” said board chair Janna Williams. “There is ample voting opportunity in the schedule already.”

The absentee voting period has already commenced. Parker said that 50 ballots have already been mailed since Friday to those asking for absentee ballots.

In other business, the board organized its army of poll workers in preparation for what is expected to be a busy mid-term election.

Working from a list of poll workers that participated in the past, the board members each reported on their efforts to reach potential Nov. 6 helpers. The board also decided on a training schedule involving the creation of a mock polling place where Parker would query and quiz prospective poll workers on a number of different potential election day issues.