Republicans are going all out to try and rig the mid-term elections in their favor by a variety of means: gerrymander seats to make them more favorable to them, remove voters from rolls, try to make it harder for voters to show eligibility to vote, and remove polling stations in locations that they think favor Democrats.

The last feature was on display in North Carolina to prevent Black college students from voting but that effort may have backfired.

On 15 October, the first day of early voting in North Carolina, mostly Black students from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (NC A&T), Bennett College and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) marched from their college campuses to their nearest polling sites for the first day of early voting.

Previously, students were able to vote on their respective campuses; however, late last year, with Republicans at the helm, the North Carolina board of elections removed several polling sites from local colleges: UNCG, NC A&T, Western Carolina University (WCU) and Elon University. As a result, students have taken it upon themselves to organize voting. The marches – two, so far – took about two hours round trip, but protecting their right to vote, the students say, is worth it.

“I think that a lot of students wanted to come and march because they knew that it would make a statement,” said Dihanna Williams, a student at NC A&T. “It would show them that, despite y’all taking away something that should be a right to us, we’re still going to go out and vote because that’s also a right for us and that’s something that our ancestors fought so hard for us to accomplish. I don’t think that anything would have gotten in the way of A&T students voting.”
…

While some students might have responded to the removal of polling sites with apathy or taken it as an excuse to not vote, Alexis Cox, a junior honors political science student, said that it fired most of the students up.

“Students feel even more motivated to get out and vote,” Cox said. “That’s why we were so enthusiastic about marching in the heat to our polling site, showing other students how to vote and offering rides to each other, and we’ve also organized different shuttle services to the polls.”

During NC A&T’s homecoming last week, campus leaders held Votecoming: Party at the Polls, a voter-mobilization effort, as part of When We All Vote’s efforts. When We All Vote’s Party at the Polls has been associated with a two-to-four-percentage-point increase in voter turnout. Rozier said that student organizers were also hosting voting-centric cookouts and events.

“It really brings back a culture where voting is engaging after a time where you’re fighting for your rights,” she said. “It’s unpleasant to be told by your representatives that your voice doesn’t matter. We’re pivoting and just deciding, ‘If it didn’t matter as much, you guys wouldn’t be working to take it away.’”

I hope that it is the case that this has in fact motivated students to vote.

It is disgraceful that such shenanigans are possible in a country that boasts about being a democracy.