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Greensboro residents, local leaders, and students from North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro filled the Guilford County Commissioners’ chambers on Tuesday, November 18, as the Guilford County Board of Elections met to vote on an early voting plan for the 2026 Primary Election.
The Republican-led board approved an early voting map that removes early voting sites from both N.C. A&T and UNCG campuses. Because the decision was not unanimous, the plan now goes to the N.C. State Board of Elections for a final vote.
Democratic board member Carolyn Bunker proposed a plan that included early voting sites at Barber Park, N.C. A&T, the UNCG Kaplan Center and Washington Terrace. Her proposal failed along party lines.
“Our decisions today must reflect commitment to fairness, inclusivity and the belief that every voter, regardless of where they live, deserves a convenient and accessible opportunity to participate in your government,” Bunker said at the beginning of the meeting.
The adopted plan passed 3–2, with Republicans Eugene Lester, Kathryn Lindley and Peter O’Connell voting in favor, and Democrats Bunker and Felita Donnell opposed.
The Republican-backed plan includes 11 early voting sites: the Old Courthouse, Culler Senior Center, Brown Recreation Center, Bur-Mil Club, Deep River Recreation Center, Jamestown Town Hall, Lewis Recreation Center, Craft Recreation Center, Leonard Recreation Center, the Agriculture Center, and the Old Guilford County Courthouse.
The 11 sites will operate from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays, with weekend hours on February 21 and 22 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Charlie Collicutt, executive director of the Guilford County Board of Elections, noted that the N.C. State Board of Elections will likely adopt a majority plan that applies uniformly across all county boards.
Throughout the meeting, students held signs reading “Protect Our Votes” and “Disenfranchisement is a bad look.”
Opponents of the plan pointed out that it disenfranchises the minority and youth vote.
Olu Rouse, a junior political science major at N.C. A&T and lead for the university’s Civic Engagement Coalition, said eliminating campus voting sites would suppress student turnout.
“We believe the campus sites are important because many students don’t have ample transportation to get to other polling sites,” Rouse said, adding that an estimated 14,000 students from A&T and UNCG voted during the 2025 Municipal General Election.
Rouse said students are willing to staff campus polling sites themselves.
“As students here, we want to be active and civically engaged in the Greensboro community, and that means attending city and county meetings and participating in elections,” he said. “But we will make sure that our students get to these polls to vote.”
Ryanne Williams, a junior Business Economics major and co-lead for the university’s Civic Engagement Coalition, also pointed out that citywide issues like housing also impact college students and they should have a voice in those discussions.
“Issues like housing don’t only affect the residents, it also impacts the college students when they can’t find affordable housing, because A&T cannot house all the students who need housing every year,” said Williams. “We’re here for four years, why not get involved in the things that’s going to impact us as well.”
Some meeting attendees supported the board’s decision. Deanna De’Liberto, second vice chair of the Guilford County Republican Party, said the number of sites should reflect the typically lower turnout of midterm primaries.
“It’s important to keep in mind that this is for the primaries in a midterm election, and primaries generally have lower turnout than the General Election. So, we don’t need to have 28 sites open; eight to 12 seems to be in the right ballpark,” she said.
De’Liberto also said transportation barriers exist in northern Guilford County and pointed to a Verity Vote study she said shows that campus polling locations benefit one group of voters over others.
“The faculty and students take the parking spots, and that’s a problem for voters voting on these campuses,” she said.
Opponents of the approved plan vowed to continue pushing for campus early voting sites.
“It’s all deeply frustrating,” Rouse said. “Going forward, we are going to advocate at the state level. If we have to show up to Raleigh and tell the State Board of Elections that we are demanding our polling site, we will, because otherwise they are suppressing our vote and disenfranchising our voices.”
