JCSU Mission To Fortify Elections Against Intimidation and Inequity
By JOSHUA M. NYPAVER
Students and community members gathered in the James B. Duke Library for education and training on how to be poll monitors.
For the Struggle, a local group that advocates for Black Communities, brought members of Common Cause North Carolina to teach the group what they need to know to become a non-partisan poll monitor.
Poll monitors watch local election sites and ensure the voting process goes smoothly for everyone, helping ensure voter intimidation does not occur so that everyone has fair and equal access to cast their ballot.
“You will introduce yourself to the poll workers and explain that you are nonpartisan volunteers,” explained Rotrina Campbell ’06, organizing manager for Common Cause North Carolina, who helped lead the training. You’re just focused on making sure everyone feels safe at the polls and that nothing crazy is going on.”
In addition to learning the ins and outs of poll monitoring, attendees also learned about various tactics that have been employed to disenfranchise people from being able to vote. These strategies are often deployed against communities of color.
“There’s history, right? There’s so much history from poll tests up until now,” said Brandi Williams from For the Struggle. “There’s so many tactics that are being done, the gerrymandering, to intimidate us from voting and make it more difficult for our voices to count.”
In addition to learning about gerrymandering, the practice of drawing voting districts in such a way that they benefit one political party, participants were also taught about various court cases and North Carolina laws that have prevented people from voting. Knowing this information allows poll monitors to empower voters to better understand their rights when they cast their votes.
New Voter ID laws recently passed in North Carolina are of particular interest to students, requiring everyone to show a photo identification when they vote. Student IDs are accepted as long as the associated schools have gone through a process with the state to verify them. All HBCUs in the state of North Carolina have gone through that process, so all JCSU students are eligible to use their student ID to cast their ballot.
Kiersten Hyde ’24 said his grandmother has volunteered at polling locations, and her advocacy inspired him when it comes to learning about the political space. He said that he plans on being a poll monitor during the upcoming election.
“I’m looking to engage the community. I’m not from here; I’m from Salisbury, but I’d like to engage with others to spread awareness to people my age,” he said. “I would say the Gen Z generation hasn’t engaged with voting, so I’d like to push for that and really make changes.”
The most important message for everyone involved with the training was emphasizing that everyone eligible participates in the election by casting their ballot.
“Your vote is your voice essentially, so if you don’t see things moving the way that you want to, the way that you make that happen is by putting people in office that you think will vote the way that you think is important,” said Williams.
Students like Hyde who have been through the training are eligible to earn $20 an hour working as poll monitors. If you missed this opportunity, For the Struggle will be hosting more training sessions as election day draws nearer.