Feds rethink stance on Kinston voting?
The fight against Non Partisan elections just heated up a little bit. As reported by the Kinston Free Press and others (http://www.kinston.com/news/federal-79724-kinston-voting.html) The Justice Department has softened its stance on the Non Partisan referendum.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez wrote, “It appears that there may ‘have been a substantial change in operative fact’ such that it is appropriate to reconsider the objection concerning the City of Kinston.”
Well, needless to say we need to reinforce to the Justice department that nothing substantial has changed, in fact we need to let them know that things have the potential to get worse. I'm sure many of you know County Commissioner Eric Rouse introduced a "Voter I.D. resolution at one of the county commissioner meetings (which was tabled). If the Republican party were to take control of the County Commission I have no doubt that they will be successful in passing a Voter I.D. resolution here in Lenoir County. Such a resolution will limit access to the polls to minorities and the elderly who are the ones that are more likely to not have I.D. It would basically be a Poll Tax which many believe would be unconstitutional.
We need to let the Justice Department know that the Local Republican Party is behind the entire Non Partisan issue. It has nothing to do with black or white. I don't know how they came to that conclusion to begin with. It has everything to do with Democrat and Republican. The Republicans know that they cant win in Kinston because Kinston is Majority Democrat and many Democrats vote straight party, which they have every right to do and they cant change the fact that Kinston is majority Democrat but they can change how we vote.
They have been wanting to do away with the "Straight Party Voting System" for years, with Non Partisan voting they basically do away with Straight Party Voting. That's their objective they want to take that option away from voters! We cant let that happen. We need to call the justice department and let them know that they need to REJECT the Non Partisan Referendum and keep our voting in Lenoir County the way it has always been. Changing the elections to Non Partisan only helps one small minority group, the Far Right Wing of the Republican Party. Contact the Justice Department and tell them to keep Lenoir County Elections Partisan. Contact info below:
Thomas E. Perez
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
(202) 514-4609
1 877-218-5228
email: special.litigation@usdoj.com
Mailing Address
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Main
Washington, D.C. 20530
Fax Numbers:
(202) 514-0293
(202) 307-2572
(202) 307-2839
(202) 307-1379
Sincerely & Democratically Yours,
Anthony D. Hall
3rd Vice Chair - Lenoir County Democratic Party
President - Young Democrats of Lenoir County
Member - Lenoir County Board of Health
Tagged:
BlueNC is dedicated to making North Carolina a more progressive and prosperous state. If your intention is to disrupt this effort, please find somewhere else to express your opinions.
Like?
Comments
Potential to get worse indeed!
Not only could they encourage the General Assembly to pass Photo ID, which would have severely undemocratic (little d) effects on our democracy, they are considering withholding the much needed Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds from this election.
These are funds that can only be used for things like supporting more early voting sites, more and better equipment and training for poll workers, and the like. That will place undue burden on many counties, and we could start seeing early voting sites disappearing from neighborhoods that most need them across the state.
Kudos to Kinston/Lenoir for keeping photo ID resolutions at bay for now.
What's the best resource for understanding HAVA
Can you point us in the best direction from an NC angle?
Here are a few resources
I'm working up a blog about it that I'll probably post up in the next few days, but here are some resources to start with:
Basic info:
http://www.democracy-nc.org/downloads/HAVA-Flyer.pdf
More detailed:
http://www.democracy-nc.org/downloads/HAVAFundsMemo.pdf
nonpartisan
I did not realize that there were any local elections that were not nonpartisan already.
Kinston Has always had Partisan elections....
Frankly there is no such thing as a "Non Partisan" elections sounds like a Unicorn or the tooth fairy. They do not exist. Non partisan elections have been away for the RepubliCONs to marginalize the impact of the Democratic party. The problem is not enough local governments have seen it that way and haven't considered it much of a big deal and thus they haven't fought it. I will continue to fight it until the very end.
Anthony D. Hall,
Fighting for Truth, Justice, Freedom and the American Way!
Mecklenburg partisan elections
Charlotte City Council and Mayor are partisan elections along with our County Commission. The six towns and School Board are non-partisan.