Talley voting graphic
Pack the Polls, a nonpartisan coalition of students, staff and community organizations in Raleigh, prepares for the upcoming 2020 presidential election by reviewing applications for their annual ambassador program, educating NC State students on all aspects of voting and election participation and by securing safe voting measures at NC State.
Pack the Polls was founded in 2016 to increase voter turnout and election engagement on campus by coordinating events between on- and off-campus organizations, centralizing important voting information into one place and by analyzing student voting trends.
Brian Mathis, associate director of Leadership and Civic Engagement at NC State and co-chair for Pack the Polls, discussed the organization’s plans for the 2020-2021 school year.
“Over the summer, our coalition met to have an honest and serious conversation about how we wanted to proceed with COVID-19,” Mathis said. “Access to the ballot was the primary goal of our coalition and how we do that safely.”
One way Pack the Polls is ensuring students have access to the polls is by registering Talley Student Union as an early-voting site. Mathis said that all poll workers at the early-voting site and at voting sites on Election Day will be following NC State guidelines for COVID-19. Mathis also said students can fill out an absentee ballot or a mail-in ballot. Information on how to request both ballots can be found on the Pack the Polls website.
The organization is also recruiting NC State students to work the polls in November to help protect the elderly community from COVID-19.
“Many of the poll workers are traditionally skewed to the more retired and older age, and so along with the COVID-19 era, there has been some concern that there may not be as many poll workers traditionally signed up, so we are trying to fill in the gaps,” Mathis said.
This initiative would help protect the older residents of Raleigh from possible exposure to the virus and ensure enough poll workers are signed up to efficiently and safely run the polling stations. For more information, visit Wake County Government Get Involved page.
Currently, the organization is focused on helping students register to vote in preparation for the November election. They are doing this by working closely with several organizations, such as Student Government and the Student-Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC), to host virtual registration and trivia events. Mathis said that as the year continues, they will have more virtual events to educate students about voting and the upcoming election. One way Pack the Polls plans to do this is through their ambassador program.
The Pack the Polls ambassador program is a group of students dedicated to engaging and informing the community about voter turnout and election engagement through presentations at class and club meetings and virtual events held throughout the year.
Andy Lam, fifth-year studying material science and director of Student Government’s Government Affairs department, discussed the significance of the ambassador program.
“It provides a chance for students to express why they are voting and […] tries to support students in how you can vote, whether that is mail-in or in person, and what the process and procedures are for those.” Lam said.
According to Mathis, the Pack the Polls website also contains information about how to register to vote in Wake County, when and where to vote, voter guides and other articles related to the 2020 election. The website will continue to be updated with the most accurate information as the 2020 presidential election draws near.