The lawsuit focuses on three early-voting sites that were rejected earlier this month.
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College Democrats of North Carolina and some North Carolina students sued state and local election officials Tuesday in an effort to restore three early-voting sites on college campuses. Republican-controlled election boards voted to reject the early-voting sites ahead of the 2026 primary in March.
The lawsuit centers on denied sites at North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina’s largest historically Black university; the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and Western Carolina University. (An early-voting site at Elon University was also rejected.) The lawsuit says North Carolina A&T students fought for their on-campus early-voting site ahead of the 2020 election. Western Carolina University and UNC Greensboro had operated such sites since 2016 and at least 2012, respectively.
The plaintiffs argue that the closures “intentionally target the rights of young voters.”
“This case is about targeted efforts to place additional, unnecessary, burdensome, and ultimately unjustifiable obstacles between students at three North Carolina universities—including the nation’s largest historically Black university—and this fundamental constitutional right,” the lawsuit says.
Despite the closures, the state will have 10 on-campus early-voting sites in total this year, up from nine in 2022, The Raleigh News & Observer reported.