Early Voting on Campus Moves Forward: Rams Head Center

Submitted by gercohen on February 14, 2012 - 3:33pm
OC Elections Board chair Jim White just called me to ask my thoughts on an early voting location on campus. In fact the location that he and Matt Hughes had been kicking around turns out to be the one that I would have suggested. We talked about some logistical issues and hours (they are leaning towards 11 am to 7 pm there). The Board of Elections met at Rams Head this afternoon !

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Rams Head Center says Jeff DeLuca on FB

Submitted by gercohen on February 14, 2012 - 5:16pm

Jeff DeLuca reports on FB that it will be the Rams Head Center between south and central campuses. 700 parking spaces, room for an early voting location location, easy walk from south and central campuses, it's on 3 bus routes and also walking distance from the medical campus.

For the primary & general?

Submitted by Jake Gellar-Goad on February 14, 2012 - 5:25pm

?

not sure

Submitted by gercohen on February 14, 2012 - 5:29pm

I don't know. Normally fall EV hours/locations are not finalized until July or so.

confirmed Rams Head for EV May and November

Submitted by gercohen on February 14, 2012 - 6:20pm

tweets from the Orange County Board of Elections meeting are that the board today approved Rams Head Center for May and November for early voting.https://twitter.com/#!/maryaacooper 

Congrats

Submitted by leestorrow on February 14, 2012 - 9:07pm

Jeff Deluca, Austin Gilmore, and Nathan Westmoreland (along with other students) deserve a big congrats for their hard work on this issue! I've seen them work over the last year to make the case for a site on campus, and work with staff at UNC to go through many sites before finding one that met the criteria of the Board of Elections. Good job guys! 

Team Effort

Submitted by Linda Convissor on February 14, 2012 - 11:02pm

I know many people have advocated for and worked hard to locate a more central campus site.  I'll add Mary Cooper, Cari Jeffries, Shelby Hudsbeth and the RHA to your list.  It was Cari and Shelby who alerted me that the rooms above the dining hall might be workable, the RHA who had reserved the rooms but readily agreed to move their banquet to another location and Mary who attended two BOE meetings and spoke passionately and convincingly to the Board.  I don't think I've worked on any other project on campus that brought out as much goodwill, accomodation and cooperation as finding an early voting site did.Linda Convissor

You too!

Submitted by leestorrow on February 15, 2012 - 9:02am

You've also been a great ally Linda. It's been really great to have a member of the UNC adminstration walk through the process with students and community members, and be supportive of an early vote site. Hugs all around for everyone's good work!

Seconded!

Submitted by Jake Gellar-Goad on February 14, 2012 - 10:04pm

Congrats to everyone who made this happen!  It's so important to encourage the younger generations to build good habits of civic participation starting with the first years of voting eligibility.  And it's very important to make voting accessible to students given how integral a part of the town's fabric the university is and has always been.

Early voting 4/19 thru 5/5; mail-in requests 3/19 thru 5/1

Submitted by gercohen on February 15, 2012 - 10:25am

Early voting starts Thursday April 19, ends Saturday May 5.  Mail-in absentee voting starts Monday March 19, request deadline Tuesday May 1 (ballots must be postmarked by primary day and will be counted if received by Friday May 11.UNC classes end Wednesday April 25, exams April 27 - May 4. Commencement very late, May 13. I don't ever remember such a long gap b4 commencement.

Please double-check with

Submitted by Linda Convissor on February 15, 2012 - 11:21am

Please double-check with Tracy Reams, but I understood the motion the BOE passed yesterday was that early voting would start at the BOE office on April 19 and start at the four other sites the following Monday, April 23.  They will have Saturday voting on April 28 and May 5.  The Rams Head site will be open 9-1 on those two Saturdays and 11-6 on weekdays.The BOE also encouraged voters to register before coming in to vote to help cut down on long lines.

you are correct as to Rams Head

Submitted by gercohen on February 15, 2012 - 11:28am

You are correct as to Rams Head. I was talking about the hours/dates in general set by state law.

Thanks

Submitted by Travis Crayton on February 15, 2012 - 12:33pm

Thanks for these specifics! I'm incredibly thankful for everyone who put in the work to make on-campus voting a reality again -- it's something we absolutely need, and I'm glad to see the broader community and University administration agreeing.

New hours 11-6

Submitted by gercohen on February 15, 2012 - 1:12pm

The new 11 to 6 hours are much more productive, especially since anyone in line at closing can vote. This will allow after class/work voting on weekdays. 

Not sure...

Submitted by Danelle on February 15, 2012 - 7:39pm

Not sure the new hours are "more productive" than regular hours.  Regardless of the time a polling place closes if a person is in line at closing, the law allows them to vote.  What is sad is this place is to be open 11-6 and most will wait until close to 6 to show up.  I keep hearing how convenient this place will be for the students.  If the younger folks can get out of bed early enough to protest a tuition hike, they can certainly show up early in the day to vote.  I noticed in past elections, people would go to early vote and stand in line for an hour but there were no lines on election day, so why not wait until election day and go to your correct polling place?

Get off my lawn

Submitted by gercohen on February 15, 2012 - 8:41pm

Early voting is your correct polling place

Early Voting is not your correct polling place

Submitted by Danelle on February 16, 2012 - 11:27am

If you go to the State Board of Elections website and look up your voter regisitration, "Early Voting" will NOT be your polling place or the name of your Precinct.  Election Day polling precincts are not "early voting" sites.

polling places

Submitted by gercohen on February 16, 2012 - 12:41pm

Let me be more precise -- all early voting locations are your proper polling place iif you are voting in the 17-day early voting window. On election day you have one proper polling place. In 2008 about 60% of voters voted early.

What was wrong with the

Submitted by Danelle on February 15, 2012 - 7:22pm

What was wrong with the previous location (next to Granville Towers Dorms)?

5 early voting sites

Submitted by gercohen on February 15, 2012 - 9:09pm

I'm not sure what the problem is looking to site one of the five early voting sites on campus. As far as going to 11-6 rather than 9-4, this is more convenient asit allows voting after work. Wake County went to 11-7 back in '04

The site was not easy to

Submitted by mghughes on February 28, 2012 - 10:21am

The site was not easy to find for many folks, even after arriving at University Square. I consider restoring the on-campus voting location, as well as restoring the early vote site in Northern Orange, to be a great success.

DTH story this morning

Submitted by gercohen on February 16, 2012 - 9:08am

The DTH has a piece on this todayhttp://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2012/02/early_voting_returns_to_oncampus_location

 

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