The North Carolina State Board of Elections Established Policies Placing More Burdens on Voters
The newly revamped NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) is beginning to make decisions that reflect its diminished support for voting rights. At the board’s meeting last week, three decisions stood out.
Name Discrepancies
First, on a 3-2 vote by the newly Republican-majority board, it approved a plan which will require registered voters whose NCSBE records don’t have an NC drivers license number or partial Social Security number associated with their name – or whose name differs from the record which does – to repeatedly vote via provisional ballot until the voter proves that the mismatch is in error. For example, think of a voter who has moved to a new county under a name changed due to marriage or divorce.
This is exactly the kind of issue which Republican Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin unsuccessfully attempted to impose on voters in last year’s election. It risks disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who have been voting with no problem – and no evidence of fraud – for years.
Early Voting
The second decision reflects the new NCSBE approach to early voting. Local board members in Davidson and Union counties wanted to continue to provide Sunday voting hours in this year’s elections. The NCSBE majority said no. In many counties, Democratic board members tend to be more supportive of Sunday voting opportunities than their Republican counterparts, in part due to frequent “souls to the polls” plans by African-American churches.
Targeting New, Naturalized Voters
Finally, the NCSBE postponed a vote on an invitation from the Trump Administration to have North Carolina act as part of a “soft launch” of the Trump plan to search voting records for immigrants illegally in the country. Of course, non-citizens are already ineligible to vote in federal elections nationwide, and in state and local elections in most states, including North Carolina. However, due to the Trump Administration’s growing campaign to deport first and ask questions later (if ever), voting rights advocates fear that this plan may be part of an effort to cause recently naturalized citizens to hesitate to register to vote. There is increasing concern among many American Latinos that mistaken identity or other errors may lead to even citizens being snatched from their home, workplace, or school and sent to a random foreign country before they have a chance to appeal.
Voting Matters for the Environment
When we diminish voting rights, we diminish the ability of families and communities to protect themselves and their environment.
Voting rights continue to be under siege in America. Citizens and advocacy groups like us must continue to be vigilant and fight back to protect all American citizens’ right to vote.
