More than 100 students from North Carolina A&T State University and UNC Greensboro marched to the polls on the first day of early voting, sending a message to election officials who rejected their requests to restore on-campus voting locations: They won’t let the changes keep them from casting their ballots.
The students walked approximately 45 minutes to the nearest early voting location at Union Square in Greensboro, navigating a route that highlighted the challenges facing students without reliable transportation.
The demonstration followed decisions by Republican-majority election boards to reject on-campus early voting locations at both universities, despite student opposition. Both campuses had offered early voting during the 2024 election.
At NC A&T, the nation’s largest historically Black university, students repeatedly advocated for a campus polling site, urging election officials to consider the impact on students who don’t have cars or easy access to transportation.
But rather than give up, students organized.
“We will come and make our voices clear, no matter how far you push a polling site off of our campus, no matter how far you drag it up the street, no matter if you put it all the way on the other side of Greensboro, we will organize. We will march,” said student organizer Xavier Jones.
Similar concerns have emerged at NC State University in Raleigh, where Republican members of the Wake County Board of Elections voted to relocate the campus’ early voting site from the centrally located Talley Student Union to a building approximately one mile away.
For students accustomed to voting in the heart of campus, the change means a longer trip and navigating traffic to reach the ballot box. Republican board members argued the new site would provide better parking access, while students and voting advocates questioned its accessibility for those without cars.
“Clearly, moving it away from central campus to me seems like they wanted fewer students to vote,” said NC State senior Joshua Ni.
The changes are part of a broader debate over voting access in North Carolina. Sunday early voting availability has also declined, with just 17 counties offering at least one Sunday voting location this year, compared with 40 in 2022.
Despite these obstacles, students are organizing transportation, showing up together, and encouraging their classmates to make their voices heard.
