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GREENSBORO — One Republican Guilford County commissioner is unhappy with early-voting locations, saying they lean too heavily in favor of Democrats.

Commissioner Steve Arnold said Wednesday that he’ll introduce a resolution at today’s Board of Commissioners meeting to limit early-voting sites to government offices and courthouses in Guilford County.

He said he thinks that will level the playing field for Republican and Democratic candidates, which he thinks the Guilford County Board of Elections failed to do.

“They have purposely chosen early-voting locations in mainly very Democratic strongholds,” he said, “and the end result of this is to solidify the Democratic stranglehold on the county.”

Early voting will begin Oct. 16 in Guilford County. Requests for absentee ballots are being processed. Election Day is Nov. 4.

Jim Turner, chairman of the Board of Elections and a Democrat, said proximity to voters determined the 19 early-voting sites.

“If there was a heavily Republican or Democratic area, we would try to make sure that part of the county was covered,” Turner said.

The board worked on them all summer, he said, and when the sites were found, the three-member bipartisan board voted unanimously for the sites.

Guilford County’s voter registration is about half Democrat and one-third Republican. The rest of the voters are independent or Libertarian.

A News & Record analysis of precincts near early voting locations shows they roughly reflect countywide party registration. Some early voting sites are heavily Democratic, such as at N.C. A&T, where more than 80 percent of nearby voters are registered Democrats.

Meanwhile, precincts near Oak Ridge Town Hall lean heavily toward Republicans, where more than 50 percent of nearby voters are registered Republican.

Voters aren’t required to participate at a site near their residences. Someone may live in Browns Summit but vote near where they work in Jamestown, said George Gilbert, the county elections director.

The idea behind early voting is to give more opportunity for people to vote before Election Day, which Arnold doesn’t support. Early voting’s start date is dictated by the State Board of Elections. Counties set their own polling locations and submit their plan to the state for review.

“I’m in favor of full franchise,” he said, speaking to opening up elections to all eligible voters or any race, gender or background. He said early voting might give too much opportunity for Democrats to vote.

Arnold favors a traditional Election Day on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. He’d consider adding a few days before that for early voting: “It seems like we’re getting farther and farther away from that Tuesday, and that kind of changes the dynamic.”

No matter what the fate of his resolution, it’s doubtful to get much further than the commissioners.

The State Board of Elections and Department of Justice must approve any change, something that may be too late in the election season to accomplish, Gilbert said.

Staff writer Sonja Elmquist contributed to this report.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com