Featured photo: Forsyth County Board of Elections representatives speak to residents about the upcoming general election. (Photo by Gale Melcher)

Jimmie Bonham stood in the middle of Delta Fine Arts Center in Winston-Salem on the evening of Aug. 4, his voice echoing off the gallery walls bouncing with colorful artwork.

“We have a lot of problems in our community right now; there’s a lot of disparity,” he said.

“And what we want to do is create parity — for us to get a fair share of the things in our community.”

One way to achieve that is “to be informed,” said Bonham.

That’s why Bonham invited the community to learn from Forsyth County election representatives about topics such as voter ID rules, where and when to vote and what types of ballots there are, and give them a venue to ask questions about the election.

Election education is a key focus for the newly-minted Forsyth Black Roundtable, an initiative led by Bonham and local entrepreneur James Grace. While the roundtable’s main focus will be on disseminating information this election season, one of their goals is to get elected officials to work together.

According to the group, they have a variety of engagement ideas, from developing community “accountability reports” that would track elected officials’ progress on actions they’ve promised the community, to hosting candidate forums, to advocating for participatory budgeting — where residents can vote on where to send certain amounts of money in the city’s annual budget.

Faith-based organizations are another piece of the puzzle — FBR wants to partner with local churches to promote absentee and early voting as well as voter registration. The group also plans on creating a “community-backed agenda” to present to elected officials, focusing on “economic disparity, education inequality, healthcare access and housing scarcity,” according to an email from the group.

For some voters, a big concern is accessibility. A report from Rutgers University revealed that 11 percent of voters with disabilities had difficulty voting in 2020. Olivia Phillips with Forsyth County Board of Elections noted that there are special devices that voters can use such as the ExpressVote ballot-marking device. Even if a voter doesn’t have a disability, they can still use this device.

Forsyth County Board of Elections is holding voter ID seminars throughout September. Learn about North Carolina’s new photo ID requirement and get a voter ID at any of the five events this month:

Sept. 10 from 5:30-7 p.m.

  • Forsyth County Government Center
  • 201 N. Chestnut St., Winston-Salem

Sept. 12 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

  • Malloy/Jordan E. Winston Heritage Center
  • 1110 E. 7th St., Winston-Salem

Sept. 17 from 4:30-6 p.m.

  • Forsyth County Central Library
  • 660 W. 5th St., Winston-Salem

Sept. 21 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Forsyth County Fun Fest

  • Health and Human Services Campus
  • 799 N. Highland Ave., Winston-Salem

Sept. 24 from 3-5 p.m.

  • Health and Human Services Campus
  • 799 N. Highland Ave., Winston-Salem

Important dates and deadlines

  • You can fill out a request for a mail-in absentee ballot right now by visiting your local county elections website. Absentee ballots were supposed to be mailed out on Sept. 6. However, the NC Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 10 that former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s name must be stripped from the ballot — a decision that will cost counties extensive time and money. The federal deadline for county boards of elections to start mailing absentee ballots is Sept. 21.
  • The voter registration deadline is at 5 p.m. on Oct. 11.
  • In-person early voting begins on Oct. 17, same-day registration is available.
  • The absentee ballot request deadline strikes at 5 p.m. on Oct. 29.
  • In-person early voting ends at 3 p.m. on Nov. 2.
  • Nov. 5 is General Election Day; the absentee ballot return deadline is at 7:30 p.m.

If you plan to vote early, click here for early voting dates and locations. If you plan to vote on Election Day, find your polling place by visiting the North Carolina State Board of Elections Election Day polling place search tool at vt.ncsbe.gov/PPLkup/.

This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.

All CityBeat reporting content is made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. Learn More ↗

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