Brian Tyler Cohen Says GOP Campus Early-Voting Cuts in North Carolina Backfired

Brian Tyler Cohen, host of No Lie, says Republican-majority election boards in North Carolina tried to make voting harder for students on two Greensboro campuses by removing their early-voting sites. On his show, he argued that the effort was "backfiring."

The host was reacting to a video that spread widely online after the first day of early voting on Oct. 15. It showed more than 100 students from North Carolina A&T State University, a historically Black university, and UNC Greensboro walking to the nearest early-voting site and back. Cohen said Bennett College students joined the march as well. Both A&T and UNCG had campus sites in 2024.

"But here's the tragic irony as far as Republicans are concerned, their efforts to suppress the vote are backfiring," Cohen said.

He also qualified the point himself: "Now it's worth noting that the march wasn't solely responsible for these huge numbers, considering early voting was up everywhere."

How the NC A&T and UNCG Sites Were Removed

The Guilford County Board of Elections voted 4-1 for an early-voting plan with no site on either campus. The only vote against it came from Democrat Carolyn Bunker. Instead, the board approved Union Square, a shared facility on Gate City Boulevard used by A&T, UNCG, Cone Health and Guilford Technical Community College. Board Chair Eugene Lester III and the other Republican members pointed to low turnout at the campus sites in past general elections.

The Republican-majority State Board of Elections had already removed four campus sites in January on 3-2 party-line votes: A&T, UNCG, Elon University and Western Carolina University. Cohen said it denied the campus again in August, and that students spent months fighting the decision, packing state board meetings in Raleigh and protesting.

The students walked about 45 minutes in 85-degree heat, in places without sidewalks. Cohen said one organizer reported waits of up to three hours. Early voting runs through October 31.

Cohen Calls It 'Same Playbook, Different State'

Cohen rejected the boards' reasons. He said state board members had cited proximity to the polls, parking and administrative concerns. As his evidence against them he pointed to Western Carolina University, where a county board member told the state board that closing the site would not save money.

"This isn't a budget fight. It's not a parking problem. It's about making sure that likely Democratic voters would have a tougher time and that likely Republican voters wouldn't," he said.

The record there was a fight over how much would be saved. Bill Thompson, the Republican chair of the Jackson County board, estimated the closure would save $20,000. Democratic member Betsy Swift put the figure closer to $6,000 and said the move would cut access for a young, rural population.

Cohen then compared it to Tarrant County, Texas. In September, its commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines to approve 224 Election Day sites, 92 fewer than in the 2022 midterms. Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig defended the plan, saying he was "confident that what is proposed is going to give" voters enough access. Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons said, "It's not about cost."

"Same playbook, different state," Cohen said.

What the Early Voting Record Shows

Cohen pointed to strong first-day turnout as proof the strategy had failed, but his own caveat is the safer reading. Early voting in North Carolina has been growing for years. In 2024, 74 percent of general-election voters voted early, compared with 53 percent in 2022. The first day of the 2024 presidential race alone drew 353,166 early voters.

Cohen's argument that the moment favors Democrats fits the national mood. Democrats lead PolitiKool's polling average of the generic congressional ballot 48.2 percent to 40.1 percent.

What Happens Next

Cohen said the students' turnout was the point. "The students who were supposed to give up and stay home didn't," he said.

Whether that holds will be clearer after early voting closes on October 31 and on Election Day, November 3.