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GREENSBORO — Voters who have a hard time getting to the polls on Election Day might have an extra day to cast their ballots this fall.


Would you vote on a Sunday? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

The Guilford County Board of Elections could decide at its July 1 meeting whether polls will open at least one Sunday for early voting in the presidential election. Sunday voting has garnered mixed reviews thus far.


Guilford County already has scheduled two weeks of early voting, excluding Sundays, before the general election on Nov. 4, said George Gilbert, the county's elections director.


The extra Sunday for early voting likely would be Oct. 19 or Oct. 26. Early-voting polls close Saturday, Nov. 1.


"Would we be gaining enough to justify the additional costs?" Gilbert asked. "The evidence thus far is no."


Representatives from Democracy North Carolina attended the board's meeting Tuesday to advocate for Sunday voting.


But James Turner, the elections board chairman, said he and his colleagues would like more information from the nonprofit about Sunday voting patterns to make an informed decision July 1.


"My inclination is to try it if, notwithstanding the staff opposition, it could produce some new voters," Turner said.


Mecklenburg and Forsyth counties have tried early voting on a Sunday.


J. Eric Elliot, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Elections, said 200 to 300 people voted on a Sunday in the 2006 congressional elections. Three times that number voted on a Sunday in the competitive 2008 primary.


Both elections attracted sufficient turnout to justify staff overtime, he said.


"I would recommend doing it," Elliot said. "At least to try."


Gilbert said he's read studies that found Sunday voting generally ineffective.


Political scientists with the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland, Ore., studied the early and absentee voting data in all 50 states from 1980 to 2004.


Their 2007 study, "Early Voting and Turnout," concluded that early voting laws result in a modest increase in turnout.


Most people want to do others things besides vote on a Sunday, Gilbert said.


"They want to prop their feet up, eat Sunday dinner and watch a ball game," he said.


More than 150 staff members worked at 10 sites during early voting for the primary in May. Some worked 70 to 80 hours the week before Election Day, he said.


"How many more hours do we want me to make them work?" Gilbert asked. "How many more mistakes will they make because of exhaustion?"


He said staffers spend quiet Sundays processing on-site voter registration forms and other records to ensure accuracy and catch up before Election Day.


Board member Kathryn Lindley agreed with Gilbert.


"We already have staff that are working the seven days a week, but they need that Sunday to get stuff done," she said.

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7059 or dioni.wise@news-record.com