Fighting Back for Voter Rights

On December 8th former State Senator Ellie Kinnaird spoke about voting rights in North Carolina to our society.  Here's what she had to say to us…

            For the previous ten years, the North Carolina legislature established the most expansive election laws in the country, providing the broadest access to the ballot. We were a model for other states. Sadly, this last legislature dismantled it all, so that now North Carolina has one of the least accessible ballot access.
            The law’s short title is the Voter Information Verification Act.  Ostensibly, the bill was to require a photo ID to show when voting at the polls. VIVA would have been an accurate description if the bill had stopped with the first 3 pages dealing with photo Id, but instead it continued for 46 more pages, which  took away most of our expansive voting access. A photo ID will be required to vote starting in 2016.
            Some background.  The U. S. Supreme Court has allowed states to write their own voting and election laws.   While 32 states and the District of Columbia have early voting, ours was the most generous. The new law repeals straight ticket party voting which 14 states still have.  Our same day registration law was also repealed, but 12 states still have it- Maine was the first in 1973.  And now 34 states have photo ID requirements, so we are no longer that much different from the rest of the United States.  Whether that is  good or bad,  depends on your perspective. But North Carolina’s ID is here to stay: 72% of those polled approve of photo ID to vote, so even with a change in the legislature, that will probably not be repealed.
 
            Here are the changes. 
2013…
            *No longer are 16 and 17 year olds able  to register early so that when they turned 18 they were ready to vote.  In the past, high school civics classes registered the students in conjunction with lessons on our government. This is a great loss as young people’s turnout to vote is very low.
            *Early voting is shortened by one week, although the same number of hours are required    such that either the polls must be open longer or they will open more sites.
            *No longer can a person register to vote on the same day at early voting.
            *Straight party voting is repealed so that now each office has to be marked separately.
            *A vote cast in the wrong precinct will not be counted.  Previously the voter was given a       provisional ballot that was counted after verifying the person was a registered voter.
            *The number of poll watchers/observers who can challenge voters has increased – two from each party are allowed in each precinct, but now 10 more from throughout the county can roam all precincts on election day to challenge voters they think are not registered.  And any person within the state can challenge a voter between elections
            *Judicial and Council of State candidates no longer have public financing available. 
            *“Stand by your ad” in which candidates had to say on ads that they approved the ad is  repealed.
            *These sections are part of the law suits before the court in suits filed by the League of Women Voters, the NAACP and the North Carolina ACLU, along with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, that is providing the lawyers.

2014…
            *The poll workers will ask if you have the requisite photo ID and if not, tell you how to get one. 

2016…
            *Photo ID is required to vote. The only photo IDs accepted are:
            Unexpired NC driver’s license
            Unexpired NC state identification card (special or non-operator's license)
            Unexpired passport
            Any military ID
            Any veterans ID
            An ID from a federally or state recognized tribal card signed by an officer of the tribe.
 
            *If a person has an unexpired driver’s license when they  turn 70, that will be valid for voting for life.
            *An out of state drivers’ license is valid if the person registered to vote 90 days before the election.
            *Absentee ballots do not require a photo ID, only the signatures of two witnesses who can be anyone from a person’s brother to the garbage man or one witness if notarized.
            *Groups can now spend unlimited amounts of money for candidates from May to September in certain years, and no longer requires disclosure of the source or amount. The law also drops the requirement that outside groups identify their largest donors, and raises the maximum contribution limit from $4,000 to $5,000. One good measure is that lobbyists can no longer hand contributions to candidates.

            As can be seen, various groups will be inordinately impacted. Students who can no longer register and vote at the same time during early voting, women who may have their names in various forms on different documents, older people who have discarded their license after giving up driving, judges who have to ask for campaign contributions from lawyers who may appear before them, Council of State candidates who seek contributions from those they regulate, and of course, low income people who may have neither a drivers’ license or a passport.

            The goal now is to register as many voters as possible to overcome the obstacles to voting.  With help from people all over the state, we can do it.