Orange Board of Elections on early voting sites

Moving the one-stop early voting site out to the Senior Center would prevent thousands of students from having reasonable access to voting sites. There is only one bus that goes out to the center (A route), which would require a 10 minute ride out to the center and another 30 minute ride back to campus, not counting the time spent waiting for the bus to swing back around after being dropped off (I live on Homestead, I know what I'm talking about).I perfectly understand that coming downtown to the Planetarium is not ideal for many of the voters inside the municipality, but the Council should consider that as residents of the Town of Chapel Hill, students are entitled to reasonable ease of access to polling locations. Hopefully the Council and the residents of Chapel Hill will understand that taking away this access would be a gross disservice to the students of our great university.Nathan Westmoreland President - UNC-CH Young Democrats 

This would disenfranchise thousands of UNC students who are not able to vote on Election Day given the remoteness of voting locations, not to mention that the campus is divided up into several different precincts. I understand that there is an increased cost associated with Morehead planetarium, but to remove it as a voting site is to tell the tens of thousands of students that they don’t matter and shouldn’t be included in the process. This feels like something the GOP held General Assembly would propose not Orange County Board of Elections. If you want this election to have any credibility with students Morehead MUST be an early vote location.

Early voting at Morehead Planetarium has been the ONLY realistic option for students to cast their ballots for years, and to take that away now is going to disenfranchise the vast majority of the student population in Chapel Hill. The fact that the UNC campus is split into so many different precincts leads to incredible confusion for students as it already is since so few students can actually vote on campus at the CDA on Election Day.I think we all understand that budgetary constraints are very real in these economic times, but there is a line to draw here, and I think disenfranchising such a huge population is where we have to say enough is enough - we have to spend a little more to make sure the people of Chapel Hill can have their voices heard. 

While I respect the Board’s concerns about financial constraints, I urge you to maintain Morehead Planetarium as an early voting site. As a UNC student who cares deeply about my town and has been heavily involved with local elections in the past, I would like to echo the previous comments in that moving the voting site would have several consequences. Removing the easy access that students now have would severely curtail student participation. A considerable number of students would no longer vote because of the inconvenience it would pose.

 

I recognize that proponents of this move may say that the students and other individuals who “truly care” about voting will travel to the Senior Center, but it is simply not that easy. Busy college students, some of whom only have budding interests in politics and in Chapel Hill, may neither have the time nor the resources to make the trip. We should be encouraging young participation in the democratic system and in Chapel Hill by maintaining the convenient Morehead voting site, NOT discouraging it by moving it far away.

 

Renee Sullender

Co-Vice President, UNC-CH Young Democrats 

People are focusing on the "where" factor of early voting but I don't see anyone mentioning the "when."  For lots of people the weekday early voting hours are useless regardless of where early voting happens.  If you want to increase voter turnout how about for at least one weekend having all day Saturday and Sunday voting?I voted at the Seymour Center last time and the slightly greater hassle of getting there as compared to getting to Morehead was insignificant compared to the much greater hassle of having to wait an hour to vote because the line was so long because it was a Saturday.

What's to stop us from offering to pay the parking cost? I'd be happy to drop a twenty to the muni... maybe more if they're willing to do ::gasp:: two early voting sites.In addition to that ray of sunshine, I agree with Jose. Having two full days of weekend voting is really important. (If you're a student and you don't have a car... call me. I'll drive you where you need to go. No really... 919-636-9307. Any election. If I'm not working for a campaign, I'll take the day off to do this.)Putting students aside for a sec, making sure working class adults get to employ their franchise is a whole lot more difficult if they have to work a twelve hour shift that starts at 7am... hense the weekend voting. - Fin. Adam 

The GOP legislature is already trying to end pre-registration for young people, shorten early voting, end Sunday voting, and add other restrictions for voting... we don't need to add transportation difficulties for students in a college town to the list of calamities the General Assembly is already providing. I think the planetarium is the most sensible since its association with voting is well promulgated, but if budgetary options reached the point of being an insurmountable constraint, then find a space at student health, or the Carolina Inn, or a church on franklin street, or at a stadium, but keep it within walking distance.  And if the location is changed, then people need to know about it.  Which could mean announcing it, putting up signs at Morehead to redirect people, maybe some WCHL ads, getting coverage in the daily tarheel and other local papers, plastering it up in buses, etc.  You have to consider the costs of educating people about the change into the budget for a just change to occur.

The Town Council can pony up the cost of the early voting site. It's as simple as that. it is a municipal election (though the county is having a sales tax referendum the same day)

Typically when there is a town and county election on the same date (which there is this November) the town pays half the cost of the election, so I assume that the cost of the early voting is partially paid for by the town already.

I'm wondering if the BOE or anyone else has approached the University to waive the parking fee?  I know UNC is in a terrible budget crunch but that amount seems relatively small compared to the benefit to town/gown relations.

Since the main expense is parking, why don't we ask UNC to be a good community partner and offer free parking for early voting? 

Over here in the County of Wake we switched all early voting sites on weekdays 11-7 six years ago. Turnout 9-11 am  had been far smaller than what we have 5-7 pm after work, plus there are less parking problems at most of the sites after 5 pm here.

Mr. Westmoreland, I was forwarded the email below and felt the need to respond.  The Orange County Board of Elections has never suggested to the Chapel Hill Town Council that the Morehead Planetarium not be an early voting site for the upcoming Town of Chapel Hill Municipal Election.  The Orange County Board of Elections does not make the decision on where to conduct early voting for the Municipal Elections.  That is up to the municipality who shall provide the funds to run the site during the early voting period if they decide to establish a one-stop voting site within their municipality.  I was asked to provide the additional cost associated with the parking at Morehead Planetarium for consideration by a town council member.  That was all that was provided.  If you have not read the email sent to the Chapel Hill Town Council in full I will be glad to forward to you. I would appreciate if you would forward this email to all those you sent the email below so that there is no misunderstanding that the Orange County Board of Elections is “suggesting or considering” eliminating the Morehead Planetarium as a proposed early voting site.  As stated in the email sent to the Chapel Hill Town Council, I have already made contact with Morehead Planetarium guest relations manager to reserve the site should the Chapel Hill Council request continued use of this site. Please let me know if I can provide additional information.  I look forward to working with you to ensure all voters, including the UNC students have the best opportunity to vote. Tracy Reams, DirectorOrange County Board of Elections919-245-23

its much easier to have the town hall as one polling place and morehead planentium open  because i can get many people to come vote early at town hall in carrboro

Based on an email from Roger Stancil to the Council it appears that we are going to have two early voting sites (downtown and the Seymour Center).  This is great news for all voters.  I want to thank the Town manager and staff, the Board of Elections, the Orange County BOCC, the Mayor and the University who all worked hard to make this happen.  It is a great example of how asking questions and having a constructive dialogue can result in an outcome which meets the needs of all constituencies.  Thank you to everyone who participated.

If any student is not going to vote because he/she has to walk a couple of extra blocks at some point during a week, the voting site isn't the problem. It's the students' lack of respect and understanding of civic responsibility.Again, kudos to those involved for facing an emergency and coming together to find a solution that may not be perfect but could have been much, much worse (like no downtown voting site!).