The NAACP hosted a program on the controversial Voter ID Bill in Webb Hall Auditorium at 7 p.m. on March 3. Students filled up the auditorium interested in how the passing of this bill may affect their future.

The Voter ID Bill is a law that rightwing leaders in the General Assembly want to pass which requires voters to show photo ID with current address info on it every time they vote. A panel was elected to effectively express the opinions and concerns of the student body.

On the panel were SGA VPEA Christian Robinson a junior Economics major, Stephen Fails a senior History major, Michael Griffin II Vice-President of Join Me Entertainment, and SGA Parliamentarian Mitchell Brown a senior Business Economics Major. Wayne Kimball, President of SGA, posed two questions to be answered by the panel.

The first question Kimball asked was “what is your stance on the Voter ID Bill?” Brown expressed he was against the bill.

Fails was also against the bill, he stated, “voter fraud was minuscule and this bill would cost the state 20 million dollars which could take from funds used for education.”

Griffin stated, “This should be a wake up call for minorities. We as minorities have been brutally beaten by the means of legislation. This and Civil Rights is a two-fold battle.”

Robinson, also against the bill, felt it was a “step backwards and a wake up call for us college educated students to get others without a college education to vote.”

Kimball then asked, “What are ways that you feel that we as a college community can counter act the bill?” Griffin stated, “that we should be more aware and muster up the courage to take action. We should rally up participants because there are strength in numbers.”

Fails expressed, “we should be persistent, and use collective advocacy. We as students should bring awareness to authorities.”

Brown said, “we should continue to follow through this is an ongoing fight. When Obama was in the running 5,000 students went out to vote, last year there were only 852 voters. We should continue to educate others; education is the key to success.”  

Lastly, Robinson stated, “that we should step up and become more engaged and stop being complacent.”

Finally, state representative Marcus Brandon from the 60th District addressed the concerns of the student body. He stated there was a generational divide and that students need to yield their voices and organize themselves in order to voice their concerns. Students were then invited to ask questions. The first question was, “are there any benefits to the bill?” Brandon stated that the only positive was that legislators would be able to identify who was eligible to vote. He also expressed that the current system is not faulty.

Another question was, “what is the best way to approach congress?” He stated the congress welcomes people to talk to them. The students have to keep the support of the Democrats as well as gather the support of the republicans who may disagree with this bill. Students can do this by the use of social networks. The

Facebook page is in operation to stop the voter bill.  Twitter is also a very powerful source: #NCGA is a way to reach legislators and change public perception. The next question was “how do we encourage people to rally through the backlash?” Brandon stated that students must inform them to educate those who disagree and let them know that this affects them.

We have to find a way to make it relate to them on a personal level. Other questions asked were, “are their any commercials addressing this topic? How is this information getting out?” Brandon stated that although there aren’t any commercials relating to this topic, students could get creative and create their own youtube videos to get the word out. He also stated the best way to get this information out is to go door-to-door.

“I think this was a great program. It felt good to see African American males of influence voicing their concerns,” stated Michael McLean, Junior, Computer Engineering major from Raleigh, NC. “This program was good. It informed students on voter ID’s and to go after a challenge,” said Ryan Marcus a Freshman Economics major from Durham, NC.

Leland Baptist, junior Environmental Science and Agriculture Business Economics Major and President of the A&T chapter of the NAACP stated, “Overall this program was a huge success. My biggest disappointment was that John Fairclot didn’t show to express his public views. What I did learn we could do now is be more effective by the use of Twitter. Tweeting your concerns to #NCGA and #NCPOL go directly to senators.”

• Shanae Phillips