Orange County and Chapel Hill Transit provide resources for getting to the polls

Local voters without access to cars or other forms of personal transportation have a number of resources available for traveling to the polls on Election Day.

The Orange County Board of Elections provides the Sonja Haynes Stone Center as an Election Day voting site within walking distance for students living on campus at UNC who do not have cars. 

“In 2020 we combined three precincts to make a super precinct, and that was the UNC precinct, so that we could get all the dorms in one precinct,” Orange County Director of Elections Rachel Raper said.

Raper said she encourages students to check if they are registered to vote using the state's voter search tool. Although people could register to vote at early voting locations, they cannot register to vote on Election Day.

"I don't want people to accidentally disenfranchise themselves," she said.

Transit resources

Voting buildings are accessible using Chapel Hill Transit bus routes, with bus stops within walking distance from all of the voting locations in the area, according to Chapel Hill Transit Director Brian Litchfield. 

"They're within walking distance of most folks on campus, or if you got off near the coffee shop or planetarium or in those areas, you'd be able to get there with a really short walk," he said.

The Chapel Hill Transit website has a section on voting, which lists all of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro polling locations and the specific bus routes that can be used to reach them.

Voting locations in Carrboro, like the OWASA Administration Building, Frank Porter Graham School and Carrboro High School, can be accessed via the J bus route. The Carrboro Town Hall, First Baptist Church and Carrboro Elementary School can be reached with the CW route. The Chapel Hill Public Library, Church of Reconciliation and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church can be accessed with the CL and D routes.

Chapel Hill Transit's Senior Shuttle also serves the public library and Seymour Senior Center.

The Orange County website also has a service called Map Your Trip, which allows people to select a voting location and see how they can get there using different modes of transportation.

The Orange County Democratic Party has a volunteer ride service that can give those in need of transportation a ride to the polling location of their choice.

To use this service, voters can call the Orange County Democrats office or fill out a form on their website and provide their contact information and pick-up and drop-off locations. The program will then reach out to the voter to discuss logistics.

“Students should try to provide 24-hour notice, but if they need a ride in a pinch then we will do everything we can to try to help arrange that,” Jonah Garson, the chairperson of the Orange County Democratic Party, said.

Garson said he thinks it is important for students to get out to vote, as they could make up the margin of victory in statewide races.

These services are all available on Election Day. Voting locations are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and voters in line at their assigned polling place by the 7:30 deadline will be able to vote.

“I would encourage folks that are utilizing the bus to vote to make their plans ahead of time to get there and vote,” Litchfield said. “Most of them operate before the polls open until after they close, so folks should have plenty of opportunities to be able to do that.”

@DTHCityState | city@dailytarheel.com