North Carolina board holds emergency meeting on keeping some polls open late after morning tech problems

The North Carolina State Board of Elections called a 2 p.m. emergency meeting to consider extending voting hours at precincts that had problems Tuesday morning, the board said. Polls statewide close at 7:30 p.m.

On the agenda: precincts in Columbus (Tabor City), Gates, Lenoir (Kinston), Watauga (the Appalachian State student union in Boone), Wilkes, two in Wilson, and several in Hertford County. Board officials said four counties, Wilson, Hertford, Gates and Lenoir, had technical issues when polls opened, and those have been fixed, ABC11 reports.

Under state rules, the board can only extend hours at a site where voting was interrupted, and late votes are cast as provisional ballots. Any extension pushes back results in a state with a top Senate race. We will update when the board votes.

Update, Nov. 3 (2:40 p.m. ET): The board has started voting on extensions. It kept the South Williams-Tabor City Courthouse precinct in Columbus County open until 8:15 p.m. after a technical problem slowed voting there; two affidavits estimated 15 to 30 people left. The K8 Holloway Recreation Center in Kinston, Lenoir County, stays open until 8 p.m. because its printer wasn't working. Because of the Tabor City extension, North Carolina won't post any results until at least 8:15 p.m., even though polls close at 7:30. The meeting was still going at last report.