Legislative Watch: Deceiving the Voters
On party-line votes Saturday morning, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to make two late changes to the November ballot, designed to withhold important information from voters.
The majority party in both legislative chambers used its supermajorities to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes of House Bill 3, dealing with the title captions of six proposed constitutional amendments, and SB 3, which removes the party designation from one candidate for state Supreme Court.
HB 3 removes from public view and discussion any process of preparing explanatory captions for the six proposed state constitutional amendments that will appear on the fall ballot. Opponents of that change argue that the ballot wording approved by the legislature misleads voters, and explanatory captions were needed to objectively describe the substance of some proposed amendments. For example, the amendment which would shift key appointment authority from the governor to the legislature does not even mention that it is taking away that power from the governor. This is critical for environmental protection because it would take from the governor and give to the legislature the authority to appoint the members of key regulatory boards such as the Utilities Commission and Environmental Management Commission.
Polls show that most North Carolina voters today trust Gov. Roy Cooper more than the General Assembly, in part because of this legislature’s terrible record on the environment. Therefore, withholding from the voting public the basic information that they are being asked to approve a constitutional amendment which would shift power from the governor to the legislature is a critical deception.
NCLCV spokesperson Dustin Ingalls noted, “If passed, two of the constitutional amendments they put on the ballot last month would give legislators the power to appoint judges and members of the Environmental Management Commission. Judges and EMC commissioners protect our right to clean air and water. Legislators are hoping to stack our government with polluters’ puppets.” By eliminating the process for providing a short, accurate description of the effect of those amendments, Ingalls said, the current legislative leaders are trying to trick voters into removing the current checks on their abuse of power.
These changes to the November ballot have now been approved less than 90 days before early voting begins. Of course, they do not guarantee any particular results, but they do add to the challenge of educating voters on critical questions which will appear toward the end of the ballot. Citizen environmental advocates must step up to that challenge.
