The Dudley building opened under the Guilford County Board of Elections as a public poll location for students, faculty, staff and the Greensboro community.
In preparation for early voting, an assigned cleaning crew sanitized the building before voters arrived. Voting is delegated on the second floor of the Dudley building; this includes the main gallery spaces and the multipurpose room. For the safety of faculty and staff members, the university has limited their use of Dudley during the early voting period. Early voting in North Carolina started on Thursday Oct. 15 and continues until Oct. 31.
The university has added five hand sanitizer stations and a housekeeper is assigned to sanitize and wipe down heavily trafficked areas. Precinct officials and Board of Elections staff will be responsible for managing the crowd and handing out masks for people who arrive at the site without PPE. If someone comes to vote without a mask, the Board of Elections staff cannot enforce people to wear a mask or turn people away from voting.
Ray Trapp, Director of External Affairs in the Office of the Chancellor, spoke on behalf of the university, expressing the importance of having integrity during the election.
“We want to keep the election to the highest level of integrity possible. Therefore, the site is turned completely to the Board of Elections for the next two weeks,” said Trapp.
During the primary election, the Dudley building had their first trial with the Board of Elections staff. However, there are new voting machines that allow voters to pick their candidate and have a printer receipt of their ballot afterwards. Once their receipt is printed, someone will wipe the voting machine for the next person to use.
University police will be monitoring the area, however, Trapp wants to make sure that everyone is comfortable as possible.
“We do not think a huge police presence is necessary, we want to make everyone as comfortable as possible,” said Trapp.
The voting site is open for the public to use, therefore, there will be a variety of organizations that will be actively advocating for their political party. SGA and OSD will be passing out nonpartisan voting guides during the early voting period.
During this time, unregistered voters can register and vote on the same day. The early voting period allows participants to change their address or correct their registration on the same day they choose to vote. After this period, any complications with registration will be subject to leaving the site without voting.
The Dudley building is open from 8-7:30 p.m. The Board of Elections will be responsible for extending the time if the line is long after closing time. Trapp encourages everyone to vote at the Dudley Building.
“We encourage all students, faculty, staff and the East Greensboro community to vote at the Dudley Building,” said Trapp.
For more information about Guilford County Board of Elections, please click here, for more information about other voting sites and their schedule, click here.
