Now that Talley Student Union has been selected as one of nine early voting sites in Wake County, NC State organizations such as Student Government and Pack the Polls are preparing to get students registered to vote and out to the polls.
Jess Errico, student body president and fifth-year studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, said that she is looking forward to the early voting site because it provides an opportunity for more students to participate in civic engagement.
“Ultimately with it being chosen, I think that it represents a great opportunity for us to demonstrate what a success the location can be,” Errico said. “I’m looking forward to voting, I’m looking forward to having it on campus, and bringing that level of engagement into the heart of student life.”
Early voting will begin in Talley on Oct. 17. Between the beginning of the academic year and October, Errico said that the main initiative will be making students aware of the election and getting them registered to vote.
“Between now and October it’s going to be a big push to get people knowledgeable of the election and registered,” Errico said. “We’ll be doing, at every step of the way, helping increase awareness of the election and helping to get students registered, so that’ll be through specific programming such as registration drives, being out actively speaking and helping students to register but also maintaining a continuous presence in our other platforms, so social media, the howl, our other initiatives and programs that we have going on.”
According to Errico, these efforts will be working with Pack the Polls, an organization on campus that promotes civic engagement, to get students to cast their ballots come election season.
“It’ll be in tandem and it will guide the Pack the Polls initiative, so we will be looking to them and looking to Andrew [McDonald] and Brian Mathis for how we can best help support the initiative, and they’ll be communicating with a variety of campus partners and will be playing a part in the greater plan that they put together.”
Brian Mathis, associate director of Leadership and Civic Engagement (formerly CSLEPS) and co-director of Pack the Polls, said that Pack the Polls will also be making appearances throughout campus to provide information to individuals about registration, candidates, and items on the ballot.
“We will be, throughout the year, at different events around campus,” Mathis said. “So we’re kicking it off with Packapalooza. The Wake County Board of Elections will have a table at Packapalooza registering students to vote. And then throughout the year in Talley and other locations, student organizations can request members of the Pack the Pollsters team, which is a student ambassador arm of the Pack the Polls initiative, can come in and actually register others to vote.”
Mathis said that the Pack the Polls website will be updated with nonpartisan resources for students to understand candidates more, as well as the six North Carolina constitutional amendments that will be voted on.
“Right now, we are currently updating and building the Pack the Polls website,” Mathis said. “On there, we will post a variety of voter guides and resources and information from many sources that students can access, particularly around the six constitutional amendments that are on the ballot.”
Pack the Polls will be hosting a variety of events to promote voter registration and education. Mathis said that their goal during this time will be to increase NC State student’s voter turnout.
“According to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement conducted by Tufts University: NC State’s voter rate for the 2014 midterm election was only 24 percent and in the 2016 presidential election it was 54.3 percent,” Mathis said. “We did not have a Pack the Polls coalition in 2014 [and no] early voting site on campus, and so we are hopeful that these efforts this year will increase our midterm election voter rate at NC State.”
Errico said that the one-stop voting site and getting students engaged will be a collaboration with many different campus partners, and Student Government will be working alongside those initiatives to serve to student population.
“We will be there right alongside, helping the registration drives,” Errico said. “[We will be] helping provide people to work and staff the polls and doing everything to demonstrate that a polling location on campus is successful and helping students make sure they have all the information that they need.”
Mathis said that he hopes many students, staff and faculty show up to vote, come election season.
“We want to get as many people to vote at this site to really demonstrate to the Board of Elections that Talley is an important and viable site, especially for future consideration,” Mathis said. “Our focus is to really improve the number of students registered to vote as well as to actually get to the polls and cast their ballot.”
One-stop at Talley will begin on Oct. 17 through Election Day, Nov. 3. Click here to learn more about Pack the Polls.
