On June 30, the Wake County Board of Elections voted in favor of returning an on-campus voting site for the November election. Thousands of signatures on petitions, hours of meetings and what seemed like endless searching for support from students and the community all came into fruition. As a result, students at NC State will have the ability to avoid the congested lines and general dysfunction that occurred at the Pullen Park precinct during the primaries in March. While many students, myself included, preferred Talley Student Union as the site at which voting would be held, the decision to locate the site in the Creative Services Center was the correct decision.
It’s very clear that the fight for and against a voting site on campus, while not a partisan issue to the students and general public, was substantially fueled by partisanship on the side of the Board of Elections. Brian Ratledge, the right-leaning chairman of the board, opposed the site, stating that students were “creative” and would figure out other ways to get to the polls.
Although Ratledge was ultimately defeated by the rest of the board, the sentiments represent how hyper-partisan we’ve become in today’s society. Deciding a location where people can vote should hypothetically be a neutral decision-making process, but just like everything else in politics, our parties have taken control of seemingly clear-cut decisions.
That’s not to say that deciding on whether college students should get a site on-campus to vote is a clear-cut decision. There are a plethora of factors that influence the decision, and it should be done on a case-by-case basis. With the case of NC State, this was obvious.
There are over 34,000 students enrolled at the university. In 2012, over 90 percent of voters who were registered using an on-campus address actually voted. The turnout was astounding and can be attributed to having Talley as a location for voting, alongside it being a presidential election year. With 2016 as a presidential election year, turnout is expected to be higher than 2014. The stakes have never been higher with strong opinions of both presidential and gubernatorial candidates.
Students deserve a place to make their voices heard, and the hoops that they must jump through to practice the founding principle of our country should be kept at a minimum. The Board of Elections did the right thing.
Talley would have been great. The original intent of Student Government’s efforts to bring a voting site back to campus was for it to be situated in Talley. The Student Union’s centralized location and easy access to students would have eliminated many of the loopholes. The problem, as was realized during the latter half of planning support, was that Talley isn’t feasible.
Parking for non-student voters would be a logistical nightmare, and there would be difficulty involved with transportation for voting site staffers. The compromised location at the Creative Services Center was the best-case scenario. While it might not be the most efficient way to ensure that all able students can vote, it is a better location than Pullen Community Center during the primaries.
We can lead horses to water, but we can’t make them drink. We’re not here to cater to college students, but rather to give them the best possible option for students and the community, and Talley just wasn’t the best option logistically and holistically.
Thank you, Wake County Board of Elections. Thank you for giving students an opportunity to vote in November. Thank you to everyone who supported the endeavor and will continue with efforts to get voters engaged with the political process. Thank you to the groups on and off of campus who put time and energy into ensuring that students and community members alike have an opportunity to influence their lives in the most democratic and just way possible.
We did it. Let’s change our future.
