Early in-person voting for North Carolina’s March 3 primary is scheduled to begin this coming Thursday, with nomination races on the ballot including contests for U.S. Senate and House, state legislative seats and local elections. On Sunday, U.S. District Judge William Osteen declined to intervene in an effort to add early voting locations at three public universities, rejecting requests for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order.

Osteen’s ruling turned away arguments advanced by the College Democrats of North Carolina, an arm of the state Democratic Party, along with some students, who said the likely outcome of a recent lawsuit should prompt the court to override decisions made by Republican-controlled elections boards. The judge rejected the view that plaintiffs were likely to win on the merits based on claims that those board decisions placed undue burdens on the right to vote.

The case stems from votes by the North Carolina State Board of Elections and local boards in Jackson and Guilford counties on whether to include early voting sites at Western Carolina University and at two Greensboro campuses: the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University. The lawsuit said A&T is the largest historically Black university in the country.

According to the lawsuit, an early voting site at Western Carolina has been operating regularly since 2016, while early voting sites at the Greensboro campuses have been offered in recent presidential-year elections but not in midterm elections. Plaintiffs argued that the absence of the university sites in the upcoming cycle would force students to travel off campus to vote, imposing time and money costs on those least familiar with the voting process.

In their filings, lawyers for the elections boards defended the decisions, writing that there is no requirement boards must retain voting sites used in earlier election cycles. They said the site choices were based on reasonable circumstances, including parking access and past turnout.

Osteen, nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, also wrote that formally supporting efforts to open the university sites so close to Election Day could risk confusion for voters. The judge’s decision to deny immediate relief can be appealed.

The dispute comes as North Carolina’s election administration decisions at the state and county level have shifted after a state law recently moved the balance of control over elections boards in the state from Democratic majorities to Republican majorities. Plaintiffs’ lawsuit, filed in late January, named the state board and the boards in Jackson and Guilford counties, asserting they violated the U.S. Constitution.