Rowan County’s early-voting locations and times have been updated by state officials after mid-July recommendations by the county’s four-member Board of Elections.

On July 17, the board approved three early-voting locations: the Board of Elections Office, Rockwell American Legion building, and the South Branch of Rowan Public Library in China Grove.

It also planned to run early voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday from Oct. 17 to Nov. 2 at all three sites, with Saturday voting from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Rockwell and China Grove locations and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Board of Elections Office.

New state rules require that all early-voting sites be open the same days and hours, meaning the proposed plan required a revision to meet the standards.

Under the new plan, early voting will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday Oct. 17-Nov. 2 at all three sites, with only one Saturday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 3.

Rowan County elections Director Nancy Evans said the elections office is at a standstill in preparations for the November election because the ballot contents are yet to be determined.

Lawsuits brought by the governor against North Carolina legislators challenged the wording for two proposed constitutional amendments that legislators placed on the ballot.

The first amendment would limit the governor’s authority to fill judicial vacancies. The second would grant the legislature rather than the governor the power to set up a new state elections board and make appointments to state boards and commissions.

Gov. Roy Cooper won his first attempt to block the amendments, forcing the General Assembly to rewrite the descriptions of the amendments for the November ballot.

In his second suit, filed after the legislature finished its rewrites last week, a panel of judges ruled in favor of the legislators, failing to find evidence that the ballot items are misleading.

Cooper’s lawyers said Friday they would appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

North Carolina’s congressional elections may also fall off the November ballot, as federal judges have once more ruled the state’s electoral maps illegally favor Republicans.

The ruling follows the Supreme Court’s June refusal to hear an appeal on a January ruling that the maps are unconstitutional. The case was instead sent to a three-judge panel to determine whether the plaintiffs, the state’s Republican legislators, had standing in the appeal using a similar case from Wisconsin.

The judges ruled that the plaintiffs have standing, meaning the case will almost likely return to the Supreme Court. However, Republicans have asked the court to put the federal judges’ decision on hold so that November’s election can be held under the current maps.

Evans said that in prior years, ballots were available for absentee requests 60 days before a general election. This year, that would have been this Friday.

With so much yet undecided, it’s hard to imagine things being settled in time for the deadline, she said.

Federal standards require that absentee ballots be available 45 days before a general election, or by Sept. 22 this year.