The Board of Elections is seeking a new home for early-voting.

Currently, early-voting takes place in the basement of the Anson County Government Center, where the office of the Board of Elections is located.

However, there have been complaints about the site.

"There's been a lot of issues with parking," Board of Elections assistant director Steve Adams said.

He added traffic caused by the number of citizens present in the area to vote, as well as access for seniors and the disabled, were issues.

"I think the town got pretty disgusted with the crowds up here during primary season," County Manager Vance Gulledge said. "Parking out here is a monster."

Adams said some citizens do not wish to ride an elevator down to the basement.

"A lot of handicapped people are afraid of elevators," Gulledge said. "I never knew handicapped people would be such sticklers for elevators." He added this may not apply to all handicapped people or this may just be an issue in Anson County.

The county chairs of both parties, Republican Donna Wells and Democrat Vancine Sturdivant, have each complained about a lack of parking, congestion and access for seniors and the disabled at past Board of Elections meetings.

"We've had bad luck finding [another] location," Gulledge said.

The State Board of Elections must approve any early-voting site, as each site must meet certain criteria.

One site mentioned was the Fireman's Training Center. It is owned by the town of Wadesboro, which Gulledge said the town did not want to give up for two weeks. Early-voting sites must be secured to protect ballots.

Officials considered the Lockhart-Taylor Center, but South Piedmont Community College could not give up the site for two weeks either.

"It's not the best possible site but it's probably better than downtown Wadesboro," Gulledge said.

Finally, the county has considered renting a storefront for early-voting. However, he said property owners have balked at renting a site for a few weeks and prefer a long-term agreement.

"[The current site] was chosen because we didn't have any other choice," he said. Maintaining the proper security is easier on county property.

"We can still do it here but we would still prefer to have it somewhere else," he said.

Officials are examining another potential site but are mum on the details.