With early voting starting in less than two weeks, dozens of students gathered on N.C. A&T State University’s campus Wednesday to share their own voting experiences.
The event, hosted by the Fair Elections Center in partnership with its Campus Vote Project, Protect Ours, and North Carolina A&T NAACP, gave students a space to share their voting experiences.
“We have to frame this together,” said Rebekah Caruthers, the president and CEO of the Fair Elections Center. “It’s time for us to show up so we can build the future that we want.”
Caruthers explained that certain provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act are reauthorized every 25 years, with the next vote in 2032. One such provision requires the use of bilingual ballots and translation assistance in areas with large populations of language-minority voters.
By giving their testimonies, which were captured via audio and video on Wednesday, Caruthers said the students could shape history. The organization plans on submitting the students’ comments to Congress.
“What you tell us today will shape future civil rights in this country,” she said. “This fight we are in is not lost.”
The event is the latest in a long series of actions taken by local students, civic organizations, and voting rights advocacy groups in the last year. For months, students at N.C. A&T and UNC Greensboro have hosted rallies and press conferences to shed light on the Guilford County Board of Elections rejecting plans that included early voting sites on their campuses for the mid-term elections. Students packed board of elections meetings where they voiced their concerns, but were disappointed in the result.
In July, the county’s board of elections instead added the Union Square campus as a compromise. Historically, neither N.C. A&T nor UNCG has been used in midterm elections, board members said.
But advocates aren’t giving up. They’re looking to future elections to make a change.
“We’re going to make sure you get that early-voting location back,” Caruthers said. “Even if you don’t experience it…it’s for future Aggies.”
Several students who spoke Wednesday recalled their first time voting on campus during the 2024 presidential election cycle.
“It felt kind of amazing to do that,” said Michael Coping, who voted on campus that year. “For me, it felt like it was really, really cool. It was really easy, I guess you could say. It’s the accessibility.”
Terrence Olu Rouse, a student who has been heavily involved in the voting effort, asked Coping if not having the polling site on campus would have affected him.
“I probably wouldn’t have voted if it wasn’t on campus, to be honest,” Coping said. “It definitely encouraged me more.”
Voting can feel like a task for busy students, Coping said. So having a voting site nearby eliminates a lot of barriers.
Jaelle Garvin, a freshman, agreed.
“I think it’s important that we just meet them where they are,” Garvin said. “Because as a freshman year coming in, you’re trying to get involved in orgs, you’re trying to get involved in classes…. There’s so much that freshmen are adjusting to being away from home, especially if you’re out of state…. So I think it’s important that we meet students where they are.”
According to a 2019 study conducted by voting-rights expert Yael Bromberg, having a polling site on campus increased voter turnout by 7.39 percentage points.
“This is not a small number,” Bromberg previously told The Thread. “This is actually hugely significant in terms of youth voter engagement.”
While this year didn’t go the way they wanted, students say they hope their voices shift things for the future.
“I’m very grateful to be here and to be a part of these conversations because students don’t know, and it’s not their fault,” Garvin said. “It’s the system.”
