early voting

NC Policy Watch has the story. Listen to SBOE Director Gary Bartlett discuss why we need the Help America Vote Act funds released. If you want to hear some strong arguments for why these funds should be released, along with the numbers to back those arguments up right from the horses mouth, then listen to this clip, and share it too!

When he talks about the millions upon millions this huge general election is going to cost us, it seems almost inconceivable that we'd turn down $4 million for our state from the feds. And even more inconceivable that we'd put that burden on the already strapped budget of our counties.

Well, not yet anyway. But why not drop the pretense of redistricting and elections and just cut to the chase?

Yesterday in Raleigh, state Senate lawmakers advanced another bill aimed at making voting harder for North Carolinians who actually make it into the voting booth after clearing the other hurdles the GOP-led legislature has proposed. Reporter Laura Leslie put it succinctly [emphasis mine]:

This week, the Republicans in Raleigh are trying to push through myriad bad bills that drastically change voting in North Carolina. H452 (Repeal Public Financing), H351 (Voter ID), and S411 (Elect Pat McCrory) are all in committee or in session today. There is pressure on legislators to have bills pass at least one of the two houses before the crossover deadline - so a whirlwind of bills will come before legislators this week. Many of these bills adversely affect young, disabled, minority, and elderly voters.

Last week, in anticipation of the crossover deadline (this Thursday, June 7), YDNC President Sam Spencer and Legislative Director Doug Jackson addressed extreme changes to North Carolina voting laws during our press conference at the General Assembly (Sam's comments on voting start at 8:20).

There's a cautionary tale to be seen in Wisconsin these days under governor Scott Walker. We all remember when he gained national notoriety for both trying to dissolve government worker's unions and tipping his hand that he was doing so at the behest of the Koch brothers. More recently, he signed into law a voter ID bill nearly identical to the one NC Republicans are currently trying to pass here in the old north state. There, like here, they have little to no problems with voter fraud, making the measure a transparent move to reduce voter turnout.

Having been pushed back on the voter ID bill, the NC general assembly recently slashed a week off of early voting time. If we're not careful, what's happening in Wisconsin could happen here. Where they have the Koch brothers, we have Art Pope. Unless we are vigilant, our democracy can and will be dismantled and sold, piece by piece.

Ooops.

[Republican] supporters said it would save money for local elections boards by shortening the time early voting sites are open. Legislative researchers estimate it would save counties about $2,000 per site. Bartlett disputes that. "That perceived savings would be more than offset by cost increases for several reasons," he wrote. Counties, he said, would have to deal with greater Election Day turnout. That might entail opening new precincts or buying new voting equipment. It would also reduce the flexibility early voting allows to allocate equipment and staff.

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It's unclear whether Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue would sign a bill. Spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said, "It strikes us as one of the lesser important topics to be working on right now."

Who the hell is "us" Ms. Pearson? Are you saying that making it harder for people to vote is one of the "lesser important topics" to Governor Perdue? If that's the case, both of you should start looking for new jobs right about now.

Veto this piece of crap bill, Bev. And while you're at it, get a new spokeswoman.

From Rep. Mike Stone's Facebook Page:

The House passed House Bill 658 on its second reading, sponsored by Reps. Jones, Stam, Collins and Sager. The bill would reduce the current early voting timeframe by a week, allowing votes be cast for 2 weeks instead of 3.

I guess that means that we, the voting public, owe you a "thank you" for allowing us those two weeks? I don't mean to sound ungracious, but GFY, pal. What Lord Stone left out of his message to us grubby serfs is: The bill barely passed, and a Veto override is next to impossible.

Economically challenged Republicans in the General Assembly are so concerned about the high cost of early voting that they're making up facts to bolster their anti-democratic policies. Dave Ribar, professor of economics at UNC-Greensboro, sets them straight. From Applied Rationality.

• Voting is a fundamental right. While it's hard to place an exact value on how much early voting contributes toward extending this right, it seems that it would be worth at least a nickel.

There's been yet another attempt to suppress voter turnout in North Carolina, including limiting civic participation from our youth. Senate Bill 657 is sponsored by three freshmen GOP Senators from Western NC (Sen. Warren Daniel, Sen. Jim Davis, and Sen. Ralph Hise). This bill would:

** Ban Sunday or “Souls to the Polls” voting in North Carolina

** Eliminate early voter registration for 16-17 year olds.

** Limit the early voting period to 7-9 days.

** Limit the available day time and hours of early voting locations.

Here’s a link to the full text of the bill:

http://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate

This is the most blatant attempt yet to suppress the vote of non-far right voters in NC. I'll be interested in hearing their justification as to why it is on our state's best interests to block young voters from fulfilling their civic duty or to make it harder for working people to vote.

This weekend the Elaine Marshall for Senate campaign picked-up the endorsements of four more newspapers: The Charlotte Observer, The Wilmington Star-News, The Elizabeth City Daily Advance, and The Southern Pines Pilot.

With the endorsements of both the Charlotte Observer and the Raleigh-based News & Observer (both owned by McClatchy newspapers), Marshall has received the endorsement of the state’s two largest newspapers.

The endorsements made this past week increase momentum for the Marshall campaign. Recent polls show the race tightening as the campaign enters the final week.

The News & Observer's editors wrote:

Here's a handy link that takes you to a virtual postcard with info on how to find out about Early Voting sites in your county, how you can still register to vote, where you vote on election day, how to view your sample ballot and more. I'd appreciate you passing the link on to others via Facebook, email, etc. Email me if you want the html code for this.

As a bonus, our graphic gives you a break from all that red, white and blue!

http://www.democracy-nc.org/voteearly2010.html