The Republican-led state elections board is just getting started on suppressing the vote | Opinion
It’s becoming clear why North Carolina’s Republican lawmakers were so intent on gaining control of the State Board of Elections: They want fewer people to vote.
What other explanation could there be for why the Republican-led board rejected requests for more opportunities to vote on Sundays? Why would they refuse to approve voting sites at popular campus and community locations? Excuses about the cost of opening sites are weak in the face of such demand.
Students from NC A&T State University traveled from Greensboro to Raleigh on Jan. 13 to urge the board to approve a voting site on their campus. Their request was denied and board chair Francis De Luca, a Republican, threatened to call the police if the students didn’t stop pressing their case.
If young people want to vote that much, why wouldn’t you let them? And, even worse, why would you threaten them?
Now the students have sued in federal court seeking to force the board to approve a voting site on their campus and at Western Carolina University and UNC-Greensboro. Their lawsuit says, “This case is about targeted efforts to place additional, unnecessary, burdensome, and ultimately unjustifiable obstacles between students at three North Carolina universities — including the nation’s largest historically Black university — and this fundamental constitutional right.”
Courts have found that Republican changes in North Carolina election laws were aimed at suppressing the participation of Black voters, who tend to vote Democratic. The board’s denial of popular voting sites and allowing the constriction of Sunday voting in the primary is likely a prelude to a further narrowing of access to the polls in the general election.
Legislation passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in late 2024 took the power to appoint members of the State Board of Elections away from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein and gave it to newly elected Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek. The legality of the move is still before the courts, but the law was allowed to take effect pending a final ruling.
As a result, membership of the State Board of Elections and all county boards of elections switched from 3-2 Democratic to 3-2 Republican. Now the Republican members of some county boards are curtailing Sunday voting and voting sites and the state board is going along.
An analysis by Chris Cooper, a Western Carolina University political science professor, shows that only 20 counties will allow early voting on Sundays — an option disproportionately used by Democrats and Black voters. That’s nine fewer counties than in 2022.
The NC A&T students were hardly the only ones upset by the board’s actions. Siobhan Millen, a Democratic member of the state board, said before the votes to cut back Sunday voting and campus polling places that she and the board had been swamped by emails from voters opposed to the moves.
“I got 222 emails just yesterday, and I’ve gotten over 1,000 in the last couple of weeks, and I didn’t hear from anyone that said we shouldn’t have more voting sites, we shouldn’t have Sundays,” Millen said.
Carolyn Wilson Bunker, a Democratic member of the Guilford County Board of Elections, printed hundreds of emails from Guilford voters and placed a tall pile in front of each state board member.
The outpouring was ignored by the Republican majority, but the voices of voters shouldn’t be. The emails offer a chorus of passionate support for making voting easily accessible.
Donna H. Engelson of Southern Pines wrote: “As a 20-year resident of North Carolina, I am disappointed and distressed to know that your board is considering limiting, rather than expanding, opportunities for North Carolina citizens to vote. We are a stronger state when we give all our citizens an opportunity to vote for our elected officials. We are better when we include all voices and ideas.”
Will Jennings of Greensboro wrote: “I have been a registered voter here in NC since I moved to Greensboro in 1981. I do not understand why you are removing early voting sites from areas where transportation may be limited. I am of the view that all legal citizens should have the opportunity to vote, and in fact have a responsibility to vote.”
Jean Obarr of Chapel Hill wrote: “I am horrified by the changes being considered in some counties — to limit the number of early voting sites, especially those serving student and campus communities. Limiting poll places, restricting Sunday hours or making people travel far restricts voting, the basis of our democracy. Do not let it happen!”
But they let it happen. And they’re not done yet.
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 9:14 AM.