HBCU students encourage voter turnout for local elections in NC

Students from seven historically black colleges and universities in the Triangle, Triad and Fayetteville helped spread the word on the importance of voting in local elections this year.

HBCU Democracy Fellows with Common Cause NC helped organize marches to the polls with students at Shaw University and Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, with similar marches held at NC Central University in Durham, NC A&T State University and Bennett College in Greensboro, as well as at Fayetteville State University.

Students at NC A&T also called their fellow students directly, urging them to pledge to vote in local elections.

“The message that our Democracy Fellows took to their classmates and the greater community was that voting in local elections is just as important as voting for president,” said Alyssa Canty, college outreach coordinator with Common Cause NC.

In addition to helping to organize get-out-the-vote rallies on their campuses, the HBCU Democracy Fellows distributed nonpartisan voter guides throughout their communities, giving residents information on the candidates as well as facts on early voting and same-day voter registration.

“By voting now as college students, we hope these young people will become lifelong participants in democracy,” Canty said.