IMPORTANT UPDATE: At the same time that the press release from the NC NAACP was being put out this morning, the N.C. State Board of Elections held an emergency meeting in which it announced that North Carolina would be extending early voting hours on Saturday, November 1 by four hours, until 5 p.m.

Adding to what is fast becoming one of the biggest voting rights issues in the 2008 elections, the North Carolina NAACP announced that it will be holding a press conference in the capitol city of Raleigh today, calling on the state to extend voting hours to accommodate the crush of voters heading into election day.

The following is from a press release announcing the NC NAACP's press conference in front of the state legislative building at 4:30 pm today, along with election watchdog group Democracy North Carolina:

Nearly two million have voted in the past two weeks, but more than that number are expected in the remaining days of Early Voting and on Election Day. Lines are already hours long in some locations. Some county board of elections have considered expanding hours, particularly for this Saturday, but in each case such action has been blocked by one board member. The process allows for the State Board to override that local decision in the interest of protecting voting rights and access. New data from Democracy North Carolina also shows that dozens of precincts still have over 2,500 "Active" registered voters who have not voted, dramatizing the need for fully staffing and equipping election sites on Election Day and maintaining a system to closely monitor the process to correct problems quickly.

Local Boards of Elections in many NC counties should meet immediately to expand hours and locations for the rest of Early Voting and review preparations for Election Day, and the State Board should meet to approve expansion plans, so that voters are not deprived of the opportunity to cast a ballot in this historic election.

As we've reported, battles over extending voter hours and adding voting sites have now emerged in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.