Wake board opts for alternative to longtime early voting site on NC State’s campus
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Board voted against using the longtime NC State campus early voting site.
- Early voting will be at the NC State Business Services Center off Western Boulevard.
- Republican board member Donna Williams said the Business Services Center has more parking.
Wake County election officials on Friday unanimously voted against using a longtime voting site on North Carolina State University’s campus, opting instead for a separate university site away from the main campus.
Under the plan, Wake County would host an early voting site at the NC State Business Services center, located off Western Boulevard, rather than Talley Student Union.
The Business Services Center is located roughly a mile from Talley and across a four-lane highway.
Donna Williams, one of the board’s three Republicans, said the business services center was preferable because it has more parking.
“It provides easy access for every voter,” she said. “We also have the campus bus that goes directly there, and we have the city bus that goes directly there, for people that don’t have a car to drive.”
Gerry Cohen, one of the board’s two Democrats, said the county has a long history with Talley, which services the roughly 50,000 students, faculty and staff at N.C. State.
“We’ve always tried to prioritize using early voting sites that voters are familiar with,” he said, arguing that parking space was not the sole metric they should decide by. “... The statistic is completely irrelevant to those that don’t have cars. Cars do not vote.”
Though the board’s two Democrats objected to replacing Talley, they ultimately agreed to vote for the new plan on the understanding that the board would ask the county commissioners for additional funding to potentially add more sites in the near future.
Over a dozen members of the public showed up to speak on the plan, with many urging the board to keep Talley.
“An on-campus voting site makes participation more accessible for the tens of thousands of students, faculty, and staff who learn and work there — many of whom face transportation or scheduling issues with off-campus voting,” Sandra Birckhead, with the League of Women Voters, said.
Only one speaker, Joanne Empie, of the Wake County GOP, spoke in favor of replacing Talley. She argued that the Business Services center was more accessible because it has more parking and a flatter landscape.
“We should not have to navigate a crowded college campus and hunt for parking in order to vote,” Empie said.
Because Wake’s decision was unanimous, it will not go before the State Board of Elections for review.
The plan approved on Friday includes 18 early voting sites in total, which include:
- Abbots Creek Community Center
- Avery Street Recreation Center
- Beech Bluff County Park
- Cary Senior Center
- Herbert C. Young Community Center
- Hilltop Needmore Town Park Clubhouse
- John Chavis Memorial Park Community Center
- John M. Brown Community Center
- Joyner Park Community Center
- Knightdale Recreation Center
- Lake Lynn Community Center
- Laurel Hill Community Center
- NC State University Western Blvd Business Services
- Optimist Park Community Center
- W.E. Hunt Recreation Center
- Wake County Commons Building
- Wake Tech South Campus, Building T
- Wendell Community Center
Early voting disputes rock other counties
Wake’s meeting comes after several contentious debates about early voting in other counties as election officials prepare for the November midterms.
In Jackson County, one member of the elections board resigned ahead of a heated meeting in which Republicans on the board claimed they’d been pressured to vote against an on-campus voting site by the state GOP and, one said, the state auditor’s office.
And in Columbus County, members of the public balked at an initial plan to reduce the number of early voting sites from five to one. Earlier this week, the board considered a new plan for three sites, WECT News reported, but speakers at the packed meeting said the proposal was still insufficient to meet voters’ needs.
Guilford County’s board of elections may also see a repeat of a debate from the primary, in which the Republican majority’s decision not to approve early voting sites at UNC Greensboro and NC A&T State University resulted in a lawsuit from students. Both campuses had hosted sites in the past, but not in the last comparable election. A judge ultimately ruled against the students.
According to the State Board of Elections, 22 counties have submitted their early voting plans so far. Harnett, Wayne, Jackson and McDowell counties had nonunanimous votes that will need to be resolved by the state board.
