LOD: The Up-Chuck Bill

A hodgepodge of anti-voter bills resurfaced this afternoon in the House Committee on Elections as a single 44-page proposal, without warning or even a summary of its complex contents for committee members. Republican chair David Lewis wanted the bill voted on that afternoon. Rep. Deborah Ross (D-Wake County) called the process “legislative malfeasance,” and others said the heavy-handed maneuver violated the Republicans’ promise to run the General Assembly with transparency and due process in contrast to past Democratic regimes. Among other things, the up-chuck bill would slice a week off Early Voting, ban Sunday voting, cap individual donations to political parties at $250,000 but allow unlimited corporate money to finance party operations, end the requirement for county boards of election to conduct annual voter awareness and registration campaigns, eliminate straight-ticket voting, kill the Council of State public financing program, make all judicial races partisan, enact a weak pay-to-play prohibition affecting state vendors, kick out the current chair of the State Board of Elections this September, and more. Ironically, the Democrats outnumbered Republicans when Rep. Lewis called for the committee vote, and the bill was defeated – but in a quick move, Lewis voted No, too, so he could later “move to reconsider the previous vote,” a maneuver only available for the No voters. The bill will soon get its favorable vote in the House Committee on Elections and move along its forced march through the General Assembly chambers to the governor’s desk, where it deserves her Veto stamp.