NC Republicans Cut NC State Early Voting Site Used in 5 Elections

Republicans Removed a Campus Early Voting Site With 47,000 Users

Republicans on the Wake County Board of Elections voted 3-2 on June 12, 2026 to remove the Talley Student Center at NC State University from the county’s early voting plan for the general election. The Talley site had been used for early voting in the 2012, 2018, 2020, and 2024 general elections, as well as several primaries, according to Democratic board member Gerry Cohen.

“The most significant barrier to students voting is typically accessibility to voting sites. Talley addresses that problem.”

Will Cowan, NC State graduate student and voter engagement organizer, Wake County Board of Elections hearing, June 12, 2026

The replacement site is a Business Services building roughly a mile away off Western Boulevard. Republican board member Donna Williams argued the new site offers easier parking for off-campus voters. Cohen disputed that claim directly, saying Talley has more available parking than at least one other existing early voting site in the county.

How Republicans Took Control of County Election Boards

This decision was made possible by a 2025 state law that stripped North Carolina’s governor of the power to appoint members to the State Board of Elections and delegated that authority to state Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican. County boards followed. The law was controversial and gave the GOP structural control over election administration statewide.

The final vote on the full early voting plan, without Talley, was unanimous. That unanimity was procedural: a divided vote would have sent the plan to the state Board of Elections for resolution, delaying the county’s timeline. Democrats effectively lost the ability to force a state review.

Why Removing Campus Sites Suppresses Student Turnout

Research on youth voting consistently shows that proximity to polling places is a primary driver of first-time voter participation. Cowan, who worked on voter engagement at NC State as an undergraduate, cited that evidence at the hearing. Students who vote in their first election tend to remain engaged voters for life. Eliminating a familiar, on-campus site raises the cost of voting for a population that is already more likely to face transportation barriers.

Only one speaker at the June 12 hearing urged the board to reject Talley in favor of the Business Services building. That speaker, Joanne Empie, represented the Wake County Republican Party. Nearly every other member of the public who testified supported keeping Talley.

What You Can Do Now

Contact the Wake County Board of Elections directly at (919) 404-4700 or through wakeelections.us and demand Talley Student Center be reconsidered for the 2026 general election early voting plan. Identify yourself as a Wake County voter and ask the board to reverse its June 12 vote.
Call your NC state legislators at the NC General Assembly switchboard at (919) 733-4111 and tell them to repeal or amend the 2025 law that transferred election board appointment power from the governor to the auditor. Ask specifically for a return to bipartisan election board structures at both state and county levels.
Contact state Auditor Dave Boliek, whose office now controls election board appointments. Reach his office at (919) 807-7500 or through ncauditor.net and ask him to direct Republican board appointees to restore campus early voting access statewide.
If you are an NC State student, faculty member, or staff member, document your experience getting to the Business Services building substitute site this fall. Organizations like the NC State Student Government Association and the NC NAACP are tracking campus voting access cases and can use firsthand accounts to support any formal challenge.

Sources

[Quote: “Don’t make West Raleigh voters feel like you are making their voting more difficult.”, Gerry Cohen, Democratic member, Wake County Board of Elections.

NC Newsline]