ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Board of Elections on Tuesday voted to approve the purchase of new voting machines that are more simple and secure than those currently in use.

PEMBROKE — UNC-Pembroke is officially designated a Voter-Friendly Campus. The initiative, led by national nonpartisan organizations, Campus Vote Project and NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education), held participating institutions accountable for planning and implementing practices that encourage their students to register and vote in the 2018 elections and in the coming years.

RALEIGH — A federal judge sentenced a former N.C. Board of Elections official to two months in federal prison followed by a year of supervised release for assisting a non-citizen to vote.

ROCKINGHAM — Several hundred Richmond County voters cast their ballots on the first day of early voting.

Deputy Elections Director Teresa Smith said there were two people waiting in line when the doors opened at the Cooperative Extension office at 7 a.m. Wednesday, adding that the crowd had been steady throughout the morning and into the early afternoon.

Twenty had voted before 8 a.m. and more than 300 had chosen their candidates by 1:30 p.m. The last voter — No. 549 — walked in with three minutes to spare.