Campus early voting sites for the primary are not required

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) recently approved final early voting plans for the March 2 primary for about a dozen counties where local boards could not reach a unanimous agreement. Most votes were party line, with the Republican majority prevailing. That is a normal part of the process that happens every election year. Despite that, SBE board members were met by protesters at the meeting.

One of the complaints from protestors and Democratic board members was that there were no early voting sites on the campuses of Western Carolina and North Carolina A&T State universities. Are those complaints legitimate?

First, it is important to note that, despite reports of early voting sites being “axed,” North Carolina will have more sites for 2026 (319) than for the last midterm primary in 2022 (301).

Perhaps the most vigorous debate at the SBE meeting was over whether to establish an early voting site on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University. Protesters at the board meeting claimed that, by not locating a site on campus, they were “actively trying to suppress our votes” and that it was an example of “simply them not wanting us to vote.”

There is one problem with the argument that removing an early voting site on the NCA&T campus for the midterm primary is taking away students’ right to vote: there has never been an early voting site on the NCA&T campus for a midterm primary.

A look at polling place data on the SBE webpage, which includes early voting site locations going back to 2010, finds no sites on that campus for midterm primaries. The decision not to place a site there for the midterm primaries was not partisan. Three Democratic-majority and two Republican-majority boards made the same choice not to locate one there.

But, even if NCA&T has never hosted an early voting site, should it host one now?

The evidence indicates it should not. There was an early voting site on the campus in the 2024 presidential primary. As seen in the chart below from the John Locke Foundation’s Vote Tracker, the NCA&T site was the least used of the 17 sites in Guilford County. That does not recommend it as one of the 10 sites in the county for the 2026 midterm primary.

Early voting site vote totals in the 2024 presidential primary in Guilford County. Source: Vote Tracker

The complaint about not locating an early voting site on the Western Carolina University (WCU) campus in Cullowhee is at least potentially more legitimate.

The county hosted early voting sites for midterm primaries both there and at the nearby Jackson County Recreation Center in both 2022 and 2018. Cullowhee was the only community in Jackson County to have two sites. The county had early voting sites at both locations in Cullowhee in the 2018 and 2022 midterm primaries. Three other sites are widely distributed across the county.

As seen in the chart below from Voter Tracker, the WCU site was the second-least used in Jackson County in the 2024 primary. The proportion of votes at the WCU site was much lower in the 2022 midterm primary, but that election was held in May, which conflicted with exams and the end of the semester.

Votes at early voting sites in Jackson County, North Carolina, in the 2024 primary. Source: Vote Tracker

Why close any site at all?

Early voting sites cost county election boards money. While there is disagreement about the exact amount, both Democrats and Republicans on the Jackson County Board of Elections agree that they would save between $6,000 and $20,000 by operating four sites instead of five. Operating four sites instead of five would also allow election officials to avoid spreading their staff too thin. Jackson County board members have also expressed concern about access to the WCU site for voters not affiliated with the university.

So, why not close the Qualla Community Building site?

While that location serves the fewest voters, it is in a relatively isolated corner of the county (as is the Cashiers site, which serves communities in the far southern portion of the county). In addition, as the name implies, it is within the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. Forty-one of the 55 Native American Jackson County voters who voted early used the Qualla Community Building, making that site politically untouchable.

Tellingly, one of the plans proposed by the Democrats on the Jackson County board called for keeping the WCU site but eliminating the site at the Cullowhee Recreation Center. That recommendation came despite the site consistently being the second-most popular midterm primary site after the county board of elections office.

We will have this same debate when election officials decide if NCA&T and WCU will host early voting sites for the general election. When officials have that debate, it should be based on community access and the most practical use of resources, not slogans and protests.

“Campus early voting sites for the primary are not required” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.