Judge rejects Democrats’ plea for early voting sites at 3 North Carolina
universities
[February 09, 2026]
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge refused Sunday to help in
attempts to open early voting sites at three public North Carolina
universities, declining requests to overrule decisions by
Republican-controlled elections boards leading up to the state’s
upcoming primary.
U.S. District Judge William Osteen rejected arguments by the College
Democrats of North Carolina and some students that they were likely to
win a recent lawsuit because decisions by GOP board members placed undue
burdens on the right to vote.
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A Vote Here sign is posted amongst political signs as people arrive to
vote at the Rutherford County Annex Building, an early voting site, Oct.
17, 2024, in Rutherfordton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek, File) |
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The decision by Osteen — nominated to the bench by President
George W. Bush — to deny a preliminary injunction or a temporary
restraining order can be appealed.
Early in-person voting for the March 3 primary begins this
coming Thursday. It features nomination races for U.S. Senate
and House, the legislature and local elections.
Osteen also wrote that formally backing efforts to open the
sites so close to voting could risk confusion.
Osteen’s ruling marks a key decision on policy preferences by
the State Board of Elections and elections boards in all 100
counties since a state lawrecently shifted them from having
Democratic majorities to Republican majorities.
The College Democrats of North Carolina — an arm of the state
party — and four voters sued in late January accusing the state
board and boards in Jackson and Guilford counties of violating
the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit involves votes by the state board and the two county
boards to not include early voting sites at Western Carolina
University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and
North Carolina A&T State University, also in Greensboro. A&T is
the largest historically Black university in the country.
An early voting site at Western Carolina has operated regularly
since 2016. Sites at the Greensboro campuses have been offered
in recent presidential-year elections but not in midterm
elections.
Voting sites are offered at college campuses elsewhere in the
state. Same-day registration is available at early voting sites.
Without the sites, the lawsuit says, students will be forced to
travel off-campus to vote, imposing time and money upon those
least familiar with voting.
Lawyers for the boards defended the panels' actions, writing in
legal briefs that there is no requirement boards must retain
voting sites used in previous election cycles, and that site
decisions were based on reasonable circumstances like parking
access and past turnout.
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