Cole Riley just started [ [link removed] ]a petition to Chairman Jim Kimel, Jr. &
Director Charlie Collicutt, Guilford County Board of Elections to:
#LetAggiesVote: Stop Erasing Aggie Voices
[ [link removed] ]Sign now
[ [link removed] ]Antavia Lee-Worsham
Dear John,
I just started a petition titled "[ [link removed] ]Let Aggies Vote!"
In 2016, North Carolina’s voting practices came under heavy scrutiny after
the NAACP threatened to sue the state for engaging in practices that its
attorney described as tantamount to voter suppression. The drastic
reduction in the number of early voting booths throughout Guilford County
- from 16 in 2012 to just one in 2016 - compounds the challenges residents
face when trying to make it to the polls. The primaries are taking place
during NC A&T’s Spring Break and the nearest early voting location for
students is at least a mile away from campus. This will undoubtedly mean
that fewer students and countless members of our community will be locked
out of the democratic process. This is avoidable. Guilford County Board of
Elections has a responsibility to designate an early voting site on campus
next year.
[ [link removed] ]Protect our community’s ability to vote by signing here to let the
Guilford County Board of Elections know that Aggies need an early voting
location on campus for the 2020 primaries.
On February 1st 1960, despite the segregationist Jim Crow laws that made
it illegal, four brave young Aggies fought to have a seat at a lunch
counter to ensure that the voices and concerns of their community would be
heard. These sit-ins were strategic actions designed and carried out to
demand justice and accountability. Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, David
Richmond, and Ezell Blair sat at the table so that our community wouldn't
end up on the menu. As 2020 approaches the attacks on our people and our
community continue to escalate during these divisive times. What was true
in 1960 remains true today---we must demand to be served. Guilford County
Board of Elections must avoid reinforcing voter suppression tactics and
give the students at NC A&T a fair chance to be heard by establishing an
early voting location on campus for the March 2020 primary election.
Democracy works best when everyone has a voice and can speak on issues
that affect their everyday lives equally. The Board of Elections placed
an early voting site on campus in 2012 and removed it in 2016. This is in
spite of the fact that civic engagement on campus is growing; from 2014 to
2018, A&T voter turnout increased by 51% in the midterms and could
continue to grow if it weren’t for continued efforts to suppress young,
Black voters. By ensuring we have an early voting precinct on campus,
Guilford County Board of Elections has the opportunity to make voting easy
and accessible for NC A&T’s students who've historically faced barriers to
participating in county elections.
[ [link removed] ]Will you sign the petition and forward this email to make sure your
voice is heard? Add your name here.
North Carolina A&T State University has been the subject of controversial
partisan gerrymandering in recent years. Shifting voter ID laws and the
loss of our early voting location in 2016 have made it increasingly
difficult for our school’s 12,500 students, the majority of them Black, to
vote. Being disenfranchised, silenced, and ostracized is not a new
phenomenon for our majority minority students. However, simply because it
has become the norm, does not mean we will allow this disenfranchisement
to continue any longer. That is why we are demanding an early voting
location be reinstated on campus. Given Guilford County Board of
Elections’ stated commitment to “maximizing voter registration and voter
turnout efforts,” establishing an early voting polling location on A&T’s
campus would uphold the Board’s civic responsibility, values, and purpose.
Sign now to tell the Board to do the right thing. Let’s make sure Aggies
have the ability to vote early come March 2020.
[ [link removed] ]We won’t allow our voices to be silenced. Sign now to demand an early
voting booth gets put on NC A&T’s campus in time for the primaries in
March 2020.
Thank you,
Cole Riley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ [link removed] ]Sign now
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join us and [ [link removed] ]start your own petition on OrganizeFor today!
[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.
<style type="text/css">
blockquote .original-only,
.WordSection1 .original-only
{
display: none !important;
}
</style>
<div class=".original-only">
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]
</div>
