WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Nearly 2/3 of all voters with a Winston-Salem State University address have already voted. It's the largest percentage among HBCUs in the state.
WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman spoke with two students who've already cast their ballots, one of them for the first time ever.
Quincey Constant is a freshman at Winston-Salem State University and Jalyn Townsend is a senior.
Both have already voted and both say every young person has a responsibility to make it to the polls.
"We get diminished by older generations but us young voters are gonna take over soon enough. We're gonna become those older people so it's important for us to start now and create that change that we need to see," Constant said.
"A lot of times we think voting is for the people who are older generations, however it effects us directly as 20, 21, 22 and even 18 and 19-year-olds because these policies that are happening now effect us throughout our entire lives," Townsend said.
62% of Winston-Salem State students have already voted, compare that to 49% of overall voters statewide.
For Constant, this was his first year voting, "I kind of felt like a sense of relief. I was like, "Okay cool, I finally did this." This is like a big milestone for me. I know a lot of people before me fought for this opportunity so for me to fulfill that meant the world to me," Constant said.
Townsend said almost more important than the vote you cast, is being educated on who and what you are voting for.
"The most important thing is education because if you don't know what you're voting for, what's even the point? You may be voting for somebody who is completely against what you stand for," Townsend said.
Both men urge anyone who hasn't voted yet, especially young people to make voting a priority.
"To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is inexcusable.
Among other local HBCU's 44% of North Carolina A&T students have voted while 37% of students at Bennett College have voted.