On January 13th, 2025, the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted 3-2 along party lines to eliminate campus polling sites for the 2026 primary, including at North Carolina A&T State University, the nation's largest public HBCU. This isn't about convenience. This is a deliberate pattern of making it harder for young Black voters to participate in democracy.
In this episode of Built by Us, host Kai McNeil sits down with Shia Rozier, co-lead of the Civic Engagement Coalition at NC A&T. Shia was there when dozens of students filled the meeting room to capacity, were denied the right to give public comment, and watched as board members threatened to call Capitol Police simply for asking why their polling site wasn't included in the plan.
Shia explains why the Dudley Building site matters: it's the most-used early-voting site for voters ages 18-25 in Guilford County. With freshmen not allowed to have cars on campus, it's not just convenient, it's required for democratic participation. The 3,000 students who vote there won't just go to another polling site. Those votes will disappear.
But A&T students have a legacy of resistance, from the Greensboro Four in 1960 to the fight against gerrymandering in 2016. This generation grew up with Black Lives Matter, witnessed George Floyd's death online, and learned about justice earlier than generations before them. As Shia makes clear, this decision hasn't silenced them. It's fueled the fire.
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