Students and community leaders are expressing outrage after the Guilford County Board of Elections voted 3–2 to eliminate the early voting site on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University—the largest HBCU in the nation. The decision will directly impact the 2026 election cycle, a midterm year expected to produce heightened turnout due to the shifting political climate shaped during the Trump Administration.Earlier in November, several special elections signaled what many are calling a “blue wave,” as voters across the country rejected the direction of the current administration. Much of the concern has centered on the frequent use of executive orders instead of legislative action from Congress or the Senate.The Guilford County board, currently controlled by a Republican majority, advanced the effort despite community objection. However, because the vote was not unanimous, the proposal must now move to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, providing one remaining pathway to block the change.At the Nov. 18 meeting of the Guilford County elections board, chair Eugene Lester called voting a privilege rather than a right.“As citizens in this great country, we have certain rights and privileges,” said Lester. “Rights are those things that we get automatically, like the right to be presumed innocent in a criminal trial. There’s nothing we have to do other than to be born here and enjoy the Constitution to get that right. Then there are privileges. Voting is a privilege.”The split was strictly along party lines—Republicans Eugene Lester, Kathryn Lindley, and Peter O’Connell supported the measure, while Democrats Carolyn Bunker and Felita Donnell opposed removing the campus early voting location.
