Early voting started here in NC on Thursday, October 15th and will continue until October 31st.
Except for Sundays because the elections board objected to the Souls to the Polls initiative at big churches where church goers had the opportunity to go vote with their friends from church on Sundays. But the church going folk and now protected from having to go vote on Sundays.
Eye roll
The election board also yanked polling places from certain universities because “there was another place a couple of miles away”.
Sure, Jan.
North Carolina A&T has been raising their voices about being one of those schools all year. North Carolina Agricultural and Technology University is the largest historically black university in the US.
Of course, the students here were targeted by the racially/politically minded state election board.
NC A&T has been protesting all year about the change to their polling place and at other colleges and universities.
You may have already seen the video of a group of NC A&T students marching, signs, chants, and all on the 1 hour trip to vote in the closest polling place.
That is 1 hour each way. Because just because the next place is close by how the crow flies does not mean it is close by street. It does not mean it is close when you don’t have any transportation.
The students marching and being vocal about efforts of others to put them in their place made me smile. It made other people smile and pay attention to because the video is getting a lot of play.
It is a truly viral moment of students and faculty speaking up for themselves and others who have also been ignored about polling place changes.
Why were they ignored? “Budget” the NC election board bleats.
Oh, really?
This is a reminder to vote even if you are not yet registered because you missed the warnings about the registration deadline of 10/9 in NC. Same day registration is available during the early voting period. Don’t forget to bring your documents when you register to vote same day at polling places.
Voting is the single most important thing you can do as a citizen.
Go vote already.
And bring a friend.
