The posts in this category discuss our core issues.
Our state’s successful judicial public financing program is a national model, replicated in several states, but several bills in the General Assembly would kill it. The program provides a statewide voter guide and an alternative source of campaign funds for appellate court candidates who abide by certain public trust conditions. Here’s an update from NC Voters [...]
A new State Board of Elections analysis pinpoints who will be most harmed by a photo ID law. It says 318,643 out of 6.4 million voters don’t appear to have a NC driver’s license or identity card from the Division of Motor Vehicles. African Americans are a disproportionate share of this group. They’re 23% of all [...]
A survey by an independent polling firm adds new insights into how North Carolinians view a proposed photo ID requirement for voters. The poll by SurveyUSA indicates that 75% of NC voters favor a photo ID bill, but only a third think passing it should be a high priority. Also, 70% say a registered voter [...]
The chair of the Stanly County Board of Elections sets Lt. Gov. Dan Forest straight about provisional ballots in this column. In an earlier column, Forest revealed an embarrassing ignorance of election law when he claimed that provisional ballots are arbitrarily counted or discounted, without any standard, and a photo ID requirement would be the [...]
Last month, a link took you to an in-depth analysis of political fundraising involved in the 2012 election of the 50 members of the NC Senate. Here’s the link for NC FreeEnterprise Foundation’s analysis of the NC House races in 2012, including the role of outside spending groups, a look at the hottest contests, and [...]
Hundreds of every day North Carolinians are meeting with lawmakers in Raleigh today, advocating for things like economic and social justice, access to quality, affordable healthcare, ending violence against women and protecting voting rights. Lobby days are more important than ever. It is vital that concerned citizens to come together to walk the legislature's halls, [...]
North Carolina is receiving plenty of national attention for the wacko legislators in Raleigh who are ready to move us back to the nineteeth century or off to another world. I'm not just talking about the NC House resolution to declare our exemption from the US Constitution so a local government can certify an official religion [...]
Time is running out to register for the NC Council of Churches’ Legislative Seminar on April 11. As the registration form and program announcement says, “The full day of workshops is led by expert presenters and offers opportunities for progressive people of faith to learn about critical issues facing the General Assembly. Grassroots activists working [...]
NC House Republicans rolled out their long-awaited photo ID bill today, complete with a press conference and an initial round of responses from ID opponents. At its core, H-589 follows the model of the Republican bill (H-351) that Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed in 2011; it says all voters who go to the polls must [...]
Today was the final day for state Senators to file new bills – and many of them seemed to be competing for who could file the meanest, nastiest bill. In the area of elections, freshman Sen. Bill Cook (R-Beaufort Co.) filed a bill appropriately numbered S-666 that would take away the parent’s tax deduction for [...]