Despite recent action by the State Board of Elections overturning the efforts of Pasquotank County officials to prevent an Elizabeth City State University student from running for office, activists at NC Vote Defenders report that all is not yet hunky dory for ECSU students seeking to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
As the activist group reported yesterday on its website:
It’s Already Started: Student Voter Suppression Hits NC on the First Day of Early Voting Read More
In case you missed it, the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, a middle-of -the-road group known for conducting painstaking, in-depth research has issued a scathing analysis of the legislation pending in the state Senate to restrict voting.
Here is the special report the group emailed out last night:
Last Minute Changes to HB 589 Would Undermine Gains Made To N.C. Voter Turnout
Summary: Tonight, the N.C. Senate passed a Committee Substitute on 2nd reading for House Bill 589 that adds at least 7 new election law provisions to the bill, which originally was solely a voter photo ID bill. The changes will reduce the number of days in the early voting period and end same-day voter registration. The Center does not take a position on requiring a photo ID in order to vote because we have not done research on the issue. However, the Center opposes the additional election law provisions because, as we found in our research in 1991 and 2003, early voting and same-day registration have worked to increase voter turnout and civic participation, because there is public support for these measures, and because the legislative process used to tack these provisions onto a moving bill is bad process and one we have criticized in additional reports over a 20-year period. Read More
Bob Hall, Executive Director, Democracy North Carolina, released the following statement this afternoon on the Senate’s new voter ID bill:
“The state Senate released its version of H-589, the photo ID requirement bill today. A comparison of some features with the House version is below.
The Senate bill takes a double swipe at college students, making it harder for them to vote. It refuses to accept student IDs from any college; the House at least accepts those from the UNC and community college systems. And it restricts the use of an out-of-state driver’s license to 90 days from the day of becoming a NC registered voter; the House accepts the out-of-state driver’s licenses as a legitimate government-issued photo ID. These are unnecessary, mean-spirited changes that target and punish college students who want to participate in the civic life of their college community.
The Senate version keeps a House provision that will make the NC law one of the most restrictive in the nation – harsher than the ones in Florida, Idaho, Michigan and several other states with a photo ID requirement. Read More
In case you missed it over the holiday weekend, Raleigh News & Observer columnist Rob Christensen had an excellent column that took state lawmakers to task for five proposals that will adversely impact the quality of North Carolina’s democracy:
As Christensen notes:
“The Republicans came into office as reformers promising a broom to clean up the mess left by the Democrats. As my mom liked to say, the proof is in the pudding.”
He might have added that right now, the pudding is watery and tastes lousy. Read the entire column by clicking here.
The folks at Progress NC released new poll results this morning that show North Carolinians overwhelmingly (78%-18%)support early voting. The poll also found a sizable majority (53% – 43%) supports limited Sunday voting as well.
The new results stand in sharp contrast to new legislation introduced at the General Assembly to shorten early voting, end Sunday voting and do away with same-day registration. The wags at Progress NC have dubbed the new bill (appropriately it would appear) the “Longer Lines to Vote Act.”
Read the poll results by clicking here.
