The 2016 election has been extremely close so far, with the Iowa caucus decision coming down to a .3 percent difference between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and a 3.3 percent difference between Republican candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. President Barack Obama narrowly won North Carolina in the 2008 general election and the state switched to Mitt Romney four years later. It suffices to say it is likely that a vote in North Carolina can carry a lot of weight. What about 34,000 student votes?
Despite being used as a voting site in the 2012 election, Talley Student Union is not a place for students to vote in the primary and may not be a voting site in the general election this fall. Students and faculty weighed in on the situation.
“The numbers of voters at Talley last time it was a polling place were significant,” said Jacqueline Lee, former president of NC State College Democrats and a junior studying political science. “We’re trying to get the support, not only of people on campus, but of the community because not just students would vote at State. It would be people who live in the Hillsborough Street and Western Boulevard area.”
The Wake County Board of Elections moved the voting site off campus during the 2014 midterm election on the grounds of there not being enough parking on and around campus. Pack Polls conducted at the time revealed that many students did not realize that the site had been removed, causing voter confusion.
“A voting place on campus would be a great way to educate students about the elections,” said Sam Potter, president of NC State College Republicans and a junior studying political science. “If there was a way to do it that was accessible and followed the State Board of Elections guidelines, then I think it would be a good idea.”
Lee said that College Democrats is meeting with Student Government and with local community groups to try and garner support for a voting site at Talley. She says she believes it could be possible and that, while Talley is the goal, the group could also see a voting site being located at a different NC State location such as the McKimmon Center.
Currently, most students living on campus and registered to vote using their on campus addresses are assigned to vote at Freedom Temple Church, a location about three miles away from Central Campus.
“The rules for a voting site state it requires adequate parking, but that rule is often not enforced, and Talley was used in 2012,” said Michael Cobb, a political science professor at NC State. “In 2012 it was OK, but in 2014 it was not. What’s the difference between 2012 and 2014?”
Cobb said that he was told by the Wake County Board of Election officials that the reason Talley was not used in the 2014 election was because it had never been used in an off-cycle election before, having not been refurbished yet in 2010.
“I found this answer to be disingenuous,” Cobb said. “Most students don’t know the difference between off- and on-cycle elections. All they know is that Talley is where they voted last time.”
Cobb said that another potential problem students may run into in the 2016 election is voter address mismatch: a situation in which a student’s driver’s license or ID has their home address on it that doesn’t match the school address they are registered to vote under. Cobb said that information put out by the Board of Elections has not clarified discrepancies of addresses or how to resolve them, and it is currently unclear whether or not this problem will affect a student’s ability to vote. Talley’s status as a voting site will be decided sometime in the summer.
“Voting sites should be picked that encourage the most turnout at the least administrative costs,” Cobb said. “Talley would seem to fit the bill. There is parking — faculty and employees park here. If it’s tough for people to drive there, isn’t it tough for students to have to walk miles?”
Lee and Potter both said that College Republicans and College Democrats are attempting to organize rides to get as many students as possible to a voting site for the March primary election. College Republicans will be hosting a voting drive from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the main lobby of Talley on Tuesday to get students registered to vote in time for the primary. The deadline to register to vote in the primary is Friday, 25 days before March 15, the day of the North Carolina primary.
Voting sites should be picked that encourage the most turnout at the least administrative costs.”
