SETH EFFRON: Confronting fear of violence at school polling places

EDITOR'S NOTE: This column is by Seth Effron, opinion editor for Capitol Broadcasting Company.

For years, North Carolina’s public schools have been used as polling places for elections with little incident and inconvenience. Election Day should be a celebration of our nation’s democracy. What better way to have them bear witness to this important ritual that attests to our freedom?

That’s not to say there still are some very understandable reasons why schools where voting is taking place – in Wake County it is more than 70 -- might not want to hold regular classes on Election Day.

The comings-and-goings of students, parents and others makes it challenging for voters to get easy access, cast their ballots and be gone. The general hustle and bustle of the polling place is an obvious distraction in the daily operations of the school.

But it is clearly distressing to learn, as witnessed at a recent Wake County Board of Education meeting, that those mundane concerns aren’t the issue parents are worried about.

Now, it is fears of violence at the polling place and the safety of students, teachers and even voters.

The origin of these latest worries can be traced to the 2016 presidential election. Johnston County schools decided not to hold classes on Election Day that year amid fears arising after the Hillsborough GOP campaign office was firebombed and around the state protesters at polling places were getting in the habit of holding up posters threatening violence against candidates.

“While there are many risks that we can’t predict, we do have the ability to mitigate this one,” Wake County parent Kirstin Morrison told School Board members earlier this month. “We can align a teacher workday with Election Day so that our students can stay out of the buildings and safe.”

The recent massacre of elementary school students and teachers in Uvalde, Texas, remains much on parents’ minds. “Today’s world is unpredictable and we have no ability to be immune to such a tragedy unfolding in our own community,” Morrison said.

It is an unfortunate reality today – and a most reasonable response. Closing schools for the safety and convenience of students, school workers and voters – is an appropriate step.

But it would be most tragic if the message of all this is one of fear – that participating in this most basic civic obligation is a risk rather than a point of pride.

Our legislature, the governor along with state and local board of elections must make sure every qualified voter has plenty of easy opportunities to cast ballots and that polling places are accessible and safe.

While our state leaders have been exploring ways to impose all kinds of dictates on what students can, or cannot, be exposed to in the classroom they might also look for opportunities to make sure students see voting as something to be celebrated and not fretted over.

We live in a state and nation that uplifts democracy and true representative government. We also understand REAL POWER still rests with citizens who exercise their clout at the ballot box.

How about making sure we’re teaching students that power comes only through the ballot, not bullying. Participation, not provocation and intimidation, are what makes our nation great.