The Wake County Board of Elections recently removed the Talley Student Union early voting site from the 2026 General Election plan. Since 2017, this site has been a vital, accessible polling location for thousands of NC State students, faculty, staff, and nearby residents.

The Board has cited parking as the reason for relocating to the Business Services Center, but the numbers don't support it. Talley Student Union offers 1,742 parking spaces, according to NC State's own data, far more than the new location, which already serves its own staff and visitors. The roughly 300 visitor spaces at the Coliseum lower deck don't change this either, since most students, faculty, and staff who vote at Talley already hold parking passes and wouldn't need visitor spots anyway. If parking is truly the concern, this move makes it worse, not better.

Beyond parking, this decision asks students to travel further for something that should be simple. Talley is a hub every student knows from their first days on campus, marketed to us since orientation. It's on the way to class, to a campus job, back to a dorm. The Business Services Center isn't somewhere most students have ever had a reason to visit. Now, on top of coursework, jobs, and family obligations, students must seek out an unfamiliar building or catch a Wolfline or GoRaleigh bus off campus just to vote. Voting shouldn't get harder; it should get easier.

Research consistently shows that convenient early voting sites boost turnout, and removing one risks disenfranchising people facing transportation issues, tight schedules, or other obstacles, with marginalized communities hit hardest.

We urge the Board of Elections to reverse this decision and reinstate the Talley Student Union site. Accessible voting is essential to a functioning democracy.

Sign this petition to support reinstating the Talley Student Union early voting site and protecting equitable voting access for the NC State community and surrounding neighborhoods.