What led to poll result delays in Cumberland County on election night?

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Cumberland County Board of Elections said the posting of election results on Tuesday was partly impacted by an unexpected influx of Fort Liberty soldiers, as well as a change in North Carolina law.

The board's Chairperson Irene Grimes said the unanticipated rush of Ft. Liberty soldiers at multiple polling sites in Spring Lake on election night was just the tip of the iceberg, and said some ended up voting as late as 11 p.m.

"Because many of them were either not registered or registered in other counties or registered at a different address, they had to cast what's known as a provisional ballot. And that takes a long time to create," she said.

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It's unclear what led to the influx, but Grimes said the delays were mostly prompted by a change in North Carolina law this year. Now, poll workers can't count early votes prior to 7:30 p.m. on election night.

"It definitely poses an extra burden on the staff because of the amount of work that was distributed over several hours on Tuesday, usually starting at 2:00 pm, those results would be prepared to be uploaded after 7:30 pm," Grimes said.

She said the change virtually tripled the amount of work poll workers have to do on election night, and created a bottleneck for counting votes on ballot machines.

Still, Grimes said the county's election staff is a non-partisan entity that is committed to following the new law and counting every vote accurately.