Early voting for the presidential election began in North Carolina on Oct. 18.

N.C. A&T is one of the 16 voting locations for students, faculty and surrounding communities.

This was the first time Guilford County had this many sites open for early voting.

To many people’s surprise, technical difficulties caused a setback in efforts to get people to vote early.

The polls were scheduled to open at 10 a.m., but due to human error in correctly setting the machines, voting did not start until after 11:30 a.m.

“There was a conflict with the voting machines and the PEB’s (Personal Electronic Ballots),” said George Gilbert, Guilford County director of elections.

To his knowledge, A&T was the only early voting location for that had an issue.

Individuals who got up early to vote were disturbed by the errors with the system on the first day.

“The people in charge should have checked to make sure that there were no defective machines before the polls opened,” said student Lashonda Jones from Washington, D.C. who waited for over an hour to vote.

“A lot of people left entirely because of this…hopefully, they’ll come back out and vote, and if this would have happened on Nov. 6, it would have been a total mess,” she added.

In order to get some students motivated to vote early, there was a surprise guest to get students to the polls later in that afternoon.

Musician and actor Fonzworth Bentley made his way to Greensboro during the Obama for America N.C. Early Vote Express RV Tour.

Bentley got students fired up near the ticket office about voting by promoting his revelation of being a CEO. He believes everyone is his or her own CEO.

After encouraging words and insight on this year’s election, the march began and Fonzworth Bentley led chanting students to the Dudley Building Multipurpose Room.

“I think students were excited that Fonzworth Bentley was an advocate for early voting, and I think he was very effective because students actually listened to what his thoughts were on voting,” said march volunteer Keshawn McDaniel, a senior agricultural education- major from Fairmont, N.C.

Bentley noted that eight years ago in the 2004 election, North Carolina was not considered a battleground state. Results in the 2008 proved just how crucial the state was for the election.

A junior aerospace engineering major from Cleveland, Ohio, also a battleground state, voted in the last election. He saw how close the race was in his home state and realized the importance of voting. “I want to be heard, why not? Why wouldn’t you vote…people fought and died to vote,” he said. “Which ever way you want to vote, just vote and be heard.”

With the election less than two weeks away, Bentley is hopeful that the campaign will be successful. “Just to think about how you students got together here on this campus overnight to have as many people as we saw on campus compared to campuses that have been organized much longer that says something,” Bentley reassured.

Anthony Ferguson, a sophomore sports science and fitness management major from Fayetteville, NC, said, “it [voting] was an easy process and the wait wasn’t that long.”

Polls for early voting will close Nov. 3rd. With all of the opportunities to exercise our right to vote, North Carolina is catering its citizens in handing out a 2012 Voter Guide Book, as a source for information on voting, elections, and candidates in North Carolina. On Nov. 6th, voters will go to the polls to choose which candidates will represent them in federal, state, and local government. There will be no excuses.

Currently, A&T’s voting site is up and running and should not have anymore-technical issues. People can go online to find all 16 early voting locations in Guilford County on guilfordelection.org.

Alicia Funderburk, Chanel Tucker and DaShawn Fleming compiled this article. Email us [email protected] and follow us on Twitter: @ATRegister

• Register Staff Report