LOD: Starving Elections

A bipartisan group of election officials from more than 85 counties sent a letter to NC General Assembly leaders late last week, urging them to release $4 million designated for improving the administration of the 2012 elections. The funds come from the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 and are in a NC bank account that has been used for years, but the General Assembly must appropriate an additional $660,000 to the State Board of Elections to meet federal guidelines before the final $4 million can be spent. Leaders in cash-strapped counties say they need the money to pay for voting machine maintenance fees, Early Voting sites, and poll-worker training. What are Republican legislative leaders thinking? Blocking access to $4 million for better election administration, while also trying to cut the Early Voting period and end Same-Day Registration, in a high-turnout presidential election year, with the added confusion of hundreds of new district lines and split precincts? Looks too much like partisan madness.