Students Walk to the Polls as Republicans Close the on-Campus Polls
How noble . . .
Staffer Stephen Prager at Common Dreams writes about the elimination of on-college campuses voting. It is interesting as many adults would criticize young people for not voting. Now the adults in the room made it harder to vote as many students do not have vehicles. Busses were provided by one college. Many students took to the side of the road to walk the 1.7 miles to the Polls to vote.
Repubs closed the on-Campus voting Polls. Guess the adults are teaching students the lessons of voting for the wrong people.
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“North Carolina Students Walk Over a Mile to Vote After GOP Shut Down Campus Polling Places,” Common Dreams
As early voting began for the state primaries, North Carolina college students found themselves walking more than a mile to cast their ballots after the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections closed polling places on their campuses.
The board, which shifted to a 3-2 GOP majority, voted last month to close a polling site at Western Carolina University and to reject the creation of polling sites at two other colleges—the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC Greensboro), and the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T), the largest historically Black college in the nation. Each of these schools had polling places available on campus during the 2024 election.
The decision, which came just weeks before early voting was scheduled to begin, left many of the 40,000 students who attend these schools more than a mile away from the nearest polling place.
It was the latest of many efforts by North Carolina Republicans to restrict voting ahead of the 2026 midterms: They also cut polling place hours in dozens of counties and eliminated early voting on Sundays in some, which dealt a blow to “Souls to the Polls” efforts led by Black churches.
A lawsuit filed late last month by a group of students at the three schools said, “as a result, students who do not have access to private transportation must now walk that distance—which includes walking along a highway that lacks any pedestrian infrastructure—to exercise their right to vote.
The students argued that this violates their access to the ballot and to same-day registration, which is only available during the early voting period.
Last week, a federal judge rejected their demand to open the three polling centers. Jay Pavey, a Republican member of the Jackson County elections board, who voted to close the WCU polling site, dismissed fears that it would limit voting.
“If you really want to vote, you’ll find a way to go one mile,” Pavey said.
Despite the hurdles, hundreds of students in the critical battleground state remained determined to cast a ballot as early voting opened.
On Friday, a video posted by the Smoky Mountain News showed dozens of students marching in a line from WCU “to their new polling place,” at the Jackson County Recreation Center, “1.7 miles down a busy highway with no sidewalks.”
The university and on-campus groups also organized shuttles to and from the polling place.
A similar scene was documented at NC A&T, where about 60 students marched to their nearest polling place at a courthouse more than 1.3 miles away.
The students described their march as a protest against the state’s decision, which they viewed as an attempt to limit their power at the ballot box.
The campus is no stranger to standing up against injustice. February 1 marked the 66th anniversary of when four Black NC A&T students launched one of the most pivotal protests of the civil rights movement, sitting down at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in downtown Greensboro—an act that sparked a wave of nonviolent civil disobedience across the South.
“Aggies do what is necessary for our rights, for our survival, and for our people,” Jae’lah Monet, one of the student organizers of the march, told Spectrum News 1.
Monet said she and other students will do what is necessary to get students to the polls safely and to demonstrate to the state board the importance of having a polling place on campus. She said several similar events will take place throughout the early voting period.
“We will be there all day, and we will all get a chance to vote,” Monet said.
Forgive me, I have been away from AB for a long time, and I don’t have much time left. Neither does the country, so I am going to say some hard things to people I like and agree with on what finally counts.
WALK to the polls. See to it that people who can’t walk get to the polls. See to it that they get registered and get required ID. You have NO rights you don’t defend.
Feels more like a campaign issue than a serious problem, so Democrats maybe should be happy with this. Of course they have to act like it’s a real problem or else the impact is nothing. But when you have an election official saying that those interested in voting will figure it out and an advocate for the campus poll station telling folks not to worry since everyone is going to be able to vote, not feeling the hardship exactly. A more serious protest would involve not voting, but that’s a big step to take. If you vote, the elections officials just see that it worked for you, no matter any complaining.
Eric
I am at a loss to understand your comment.
Closing polls is a means to discourage college students from voting because college students vote against Trump. Sounds like part of the most serioius problem we have faced since 1860. as for the assurances of the officials, have you ever noticed that officials lie?
As for the poor kids having to walk a amile, i have no sympathy, unless they are in a wheel chair. That’s why I said organizing to get people to the polls, having registered and with required i.d. Not voting “in protest” is stupid.