GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge refused Sunday to help in attempts to open early voting sites at three public North Carolina universities, declining requests to overrule decisions by Republican-controlled elections boards leading up to the state’s upcoming primary.
U.S. District Judge William Osteen rejected arguments by the College Democrats of North Carolina and some students that they were likely to win a recent lawsuit because decisions by GOP board members placed undue burdens on the right to vote.
The decision by Osteen — nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush — to deny a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order can be appealed.
Early in-person voting for the March 3 primary begins this coming Thursday. It features nomination races for U.S. Senate and House, the legislature and local elections.
Osteen also wrote that formally backing efforts to open the sites so close to voting could risk confusion.
Osteen’s ruling marks a key decision on policy preferences by the State Board of Elections and elections boards in all 100 counties since a state lawrecently shifted them from having Democratic majorities to Republican majorities.
The College Democrats of North Carolina — an arm of the state party — and four voters sued in late January accusing the state board and boards in Jackson and Guilford counties of violating the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit involves votes by the state board and the two county boards to not include early voting sites at Western Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University, also in Greensboro. A&T is the largest historically Black university in the country.
An early voting site at Western Carolina has operated regularly since 2016. Sites at the Greensboro campuses have been offered in recent presidential-year elections but not in midterm elections.
Voting sites are offered at college campuses elsewhere in the state. Same-day registration is available at early voting sites.
Without the sites, the lawsuit says, students will be forced to travel off-campus to vote, imposing time and money upon those least familiar with voting.
Lawyers for the boards defended the panels' actions, writing in legal briefs that there is no requirement boards must retain voting sites used in previous election cycles, and that site decisions were based on reasonable circumstances like parking access and past turnout.
FILE - A Vote Here sign is posted amongst political signs as people arrive to vote at the Rutherford County Annex Building, an early voting site, Oct. 17, 2024, in Rutherfordton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek, File)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The sound of construction roared over the most memed metro station in Mexico City as workers hammered at marble floors under a chandelier and rows of lamps reminiscent of a scene from “Harry Potter” or “Titanic,” racing to finish ahead of the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony Thursday.
Mexicans milling through the busy Hidalgo metro station pointed and laughed, occasionally snapping pictures of the face-lift that has become the subject of a cascade of internet memes.
The cosmetic makeover that authorities have attempted to give the capital as visitors arrive from around the globe also has become a symbol of criticisms that the government is prioritizing its superficial appearance for World Cup fans over fixing critical structural issues that have long plagued the city.
“People make fun of it because it's a failed aesthetic, it doesn't make a lot of sense,” said Silvia Escamilla, 28, who was hustling to work among a crowd of Mexican commuters. “All these renovations are like putting makeup on the city, because the infrastructure they could actually invest in just isn’t there.”
For weeks, Mexico City workers have plastered walls and metro cars with cartoon axolotls, the mole salamander that has become a city mascot. They also have painted bridges purple and planted Mexican marigold flowers typical of Day of the Dead celebrations in November.
The 22 million residents of the sprawling capital, known as Chilangos, have jokingly referred to the renovations as the city's “axolotlization.” They have posted videos of flooded underpasses next to freshly painted murals of axolotls and crumbling stairs and potholes painted bright purple.
Hidalgo station, in the heart of the downtown, has perhaps become the subject of more memes than anywhere else in the city.
When city workers installed the chandelier near the metro entrance and rows of Victorian wall lamps in May, social media users were quick to joke that authorities were trying to make the gritty metro system look like it was in a European city.
Residents began to show up at the station in elegant dresses in videos layered over Mozart music. One social media influencer descended the marble stairs dressed as the Beast from the classic Disney cartoon “Beauty and the Beast.” Another arrived as Napoleon Bonaparte in a white wig and French military uniform.
“May you have an elegant metro connection,” one social media influencer said as he strolled through throngs of commuters dressed in a tuxedo and top hat. Another filmed herself selling pink dresses aboard one of the metro trains, yelling to passengers that the items matched the “etiquette” of Metro Hidalgo.
Many more posed next to marble floors and walls torn up by construction ahead of the soccer tournament being hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The crush of jokes amused Mexicans for weeks, but also cut to the core of a deeper problem in the city, said Aldo Solano Rojas, an art historian in Mexico City who has criticized the remodel.
Failures to prioritize issues like the metro's crumbling infrastructure and holes in the major municipal roadways show the government “doesn't understand the real needs of the city,” he said.
“State presence, at its best, is reflected in well-maintained sidewalks and adequate transportation infrastructure that doesn't collapse every day,” Solano Rojas said. “It's not reflected in frivolous, superficial axolotl murals while the streets are flooding.”
The criticisms come in the midst of wider social unrest in Mexico City as the country's teachers union, families of Mexico's 130,000 missing people and a range of other social movements use the proximity to the event to pressure authorities.
The government also has faced accusations of displacing sex workers and street vendors in an effort to clean up the streets. Despite the tensions, city workers on Wednesday were still racing to complete construction ahead of the opening ceremony and first match.
Mirna Baranco looked fondly on the renovations, but the 46-year-old laughed at the chandelier over Hidalgo construction workers. She nudged her boyfriend and pointed.
“I've already seen it all over the place on Facebook, but not in real life,” she said.
Baranco understood the criticisms, but said she didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing that authorities were making changes to be more attractive to international visitors. The World Cup has helped push local governments to make needed renovations, even if some look a little out of place, she said.
The changes show that “Mexico isn't just how others stereotype us, as a country with narcos,” Baranco said. “Mexico has a lot to give the world.”
A woman puts on makeup at the subway in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A dancer holds a replica of the World Cup trophy as soccer fans stand along Reforma Avenue in Mexico City, Saturday, June 6, 2026 ahead of the FIFA World Cup. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
People walk through a subway station that has new lighting, part of preparations for hosting the World Cup soccer tournament in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
People walk through a subway station that has new lighting, part of preparations for hosting the World Cup soccer tournament in Mexico City, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
