This statement can be attributed to Democracy North Carolina Executive Director Bob Hall.
“We are reminded today that everyone benefits when a community mobilizes to stop a discriminatory rollback of voting rights. People filled the meeting room and their spirit and energy carried the day.
The Republican majority on the Guilford County Board of Elections abandoned an earlier proposal to cut out Sunday voting and eliminate the sites serving NC A&T University, UNC-Greensboro, and several African-American neighborhoods. Instead of pursuing that partisan and biased proposal, the two Republicans and one Democrat on the board unanimously reaffirmed a strong 10-day plan that opens all these sites and many more from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5 – a total of 25 sites – with Saturday, Sunday and evening hours. In addition, the approved plan will open the county board of elections office Oct. 20-26, which are the seven days of Early Voting that were restored by the ruling of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Board should have extended the sites and hours of the strong 10-day plan to cover the full 17 days, especially because the loss of straight-ticket voting will slow down lines and require many more hours for the same number of people to vote. But given the anti-black, anti-student proposal that surfaced last week, today’s decision is an important victory for the citizens of Guilford County. We now need to help educate everyone about the appropriate times and places to use Early Voting.”
Democracy North Carolina is a statewide nonpartisan organization that uses research, organizing, and training to increase civic participation, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and remove systemic barriers to voting and serving in elected office.
###
Leave A Comment