Early Voting Woes
By Annie Butzner
Early voting has benefited citizens for years, but this year across NC, impoverished, elderly, and disabled citizens must travel farther to vote—and risk their lives.
Citizens expecting to vote in the impressive, convenient building at 35 Woodfin Street might be shocked to discover the BOE has vanished. It has moved to 77 McDowell Street at the southwest corner of Choctaw Street, a mile south of downtown. Citizens with cars are able to quickly find new location with a GPS: it’s easy to drive to McDowell Street, but try getting there by bus and you might just give up.
Buses are scheduled to stop on McDowell every 1-1/2 hours, so I decided to monitor the intersection for voters. The first bus, heading north, raced by at 12:40 p.m., followed by a southbound bus at 12:50. I did not see a single person getting on or off either bus. I did observe a young lady running across McDowell—almost reaching the corner before lights changed. I talked with a father pushing a child in a baby carriage with one hand and holding his daughter’s hand with the other. “crossing this street is a nightmare, I hate it,” he told me. An elderly man using an umbrella as a cane did not make it across before cars and trucks started racing by.
The five-lane McDowell-Choctaw intersection has no crosswalks or walking light. Crossing by foot means taking your life in your hands. A woman in a motorized wheelchair was passing out sample ballots. I asked her if she would cross the street in her chair. “Are you kidding?” she said dismissively.
After seeing two Mountain Mobility Vans stop for the driver to vote, I called Land of Sky Regional Council to ask about access. I was told that van riders are taken to voting places only if a rider preschedules the trip on a Tuesday (the one day the vans take people to places other than appointments) and if the poll is located in a library. Early voting used to be available at four area libraries—north, south, east, and west—as well as downtown. Under restrictive new laws passed by the state Legislature, those polling places are no longer open.
One-stop early voting is absentee voting and voting by mail is, too. Important voting rights organizations, NAACP, LWV, are not pushing or promoting by-mail absentee voting. Democracy-NC is. These organizations are well aware of less visible communities and forgotten citizens. Invisibility evokes “out of sight, out of mind.”
We are turning a blind eye to voters working 12-hour shifts seven days a week, mothers working, caring for children, husbands, aging parents, disabled and elderly citizens, those without cars or bus fare. Living in a healthcare facility and riding in a van or bus is not reliable as everyone in a facility is not ambulatory or well enough to travel — falls happen, residents may need meds or toileting or feel their clothes are inappropriate.
It is thrilling to go to the polls. We could make voting by mail just as exciting with community support. The future is now and voting by mail works.
