Mike15761's blog

Preserve the Early Voting Site Near UNC

The Orange County Board of Elections will be deciding on Tuesday, August 7th on whether to move the one-stop early voting site from UNC's campus to the Seymour Senior Center off Homestead Road.

We have the following objections to the proposed move:

1. The Seymour Senior Center creates a significant impediment to voting for students, faculty, staff and the many community members that live/work in and around downtown.
2. Moving the site away from campus will adversely impact student engagement in the upcoming election.
3. With the passage of the same-day voter registration bill, more students are likely to vote this fall. Moving the site will hurt these efforts.
4. If we want to encourage students to take an interest or an active role in their community, we should not making voting inaccessible to many who cannot make it to the Seymour Center.
5. Many faculty and staff that work on or near campus benefit from having a central voting site on campus.
6. A better location can be found that will benefit both students and residents of Chapel Hill.

Early voting not on campus?

Many members of the Chapel Hill community have been working for years to increase voting awareness and participation among students. All that effort might be for naught if the Orange County Board of Elections decides to move the one-stop early voting site to the new Robert and Pearl Seymour Senior Center on Homestead Road. According to the News & Observer, Morehead Planetarium will be under construction and will not be able to host the voting site.

The news of the potential relocation of the voting site to the Senior Center, a location that is not within walking distance for students, is especially disheartening after the recent passage of the same-day voter registration bill, which many believe will help increase voter turnout among students. If we want to encourage students to take an interest or an active role in their community, we should not relocate polls to a center that is out of reach for most students.

Poverty Awareness Week at UNC

N.C. NAACP President Reverend William Barber II will be speaking at the University of North Carolina on Friday, March 23 in a culmination of "Poverty Awareness Week."

The event, held in the Campus Y Ballroom at 11 a.m., will address the issues of poverty and their relation to social justice and race. It will be followed by presentations by local agencies about the opportunities to volunteer and aid in ending homelessness. Participating agencies include but are not limited to:
- Neighbor House
- Teens Climb High
- Joblinks
- Triangle Youth Services (drop-in center on Franklin St.)
- Women's Center
- IFC
- Family Violence Prevention Center
- Orange Co. Rape Crisis Center
- Hidden Voices

 

Community Guidelines

By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.

 

Content license

By contributing to OrangePolitics, you agree to license your contributions under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Creative Commons License

 
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.