Voting changes may not be illegal but they sure are partisan
Published July 12, 2014
by Doug Clark, Greensboro News-Record, July 11, 2014.
Despite the federal court hearing in Winston-Salem this week, most North Carolinians aren’t protesting the election law changes enacted by the state legislature and Gov. Pat McCrory. Yet.
More people will get mad when they vote in November and find they’re denied the chance to cast a straight-ticket vote.
Straight-ticket voting has been allowed in North Carolina for generations. It’s a popular convenience for people who want to support a party slate without taking the time to work all the way down the ballot.
I’ve never done it. As an unaffiliated voter, I always split my ballot. But I would never deprive others of the opportunity.
Straight-ticket voting was utilized by 2.5 million North Carolina voters in 2012 — a majority of those who went to the polls.
So why on earth did the Republican legislature and governor do away with it? Common sense says that, if the people like a voting option and it doesn’t create problems, leave it alone. If anything, not having it will cause trouble because voters will have to spend much more time in the voting booth. People will have to wait longer to vote.
The reason why is in the numbers. There were 1.4 million straight votes cast for Democrats in 2012 and only 1.1 million for Republicans. If the option is eliminated, and a certain number of voters fail to proceed down the ballot, chances are Democratic candidates will lose more votes than will Republican candidates.
GOP legislators made this change to gain a small partisan advantage, even at the expense of voting convenience. That’s why they made almost all of the election changes contained in last year’s sprawling voting “reform” bill.
They said it was all about voting integrity and restoring trust in government, but the opposite is true. It’s all a cynical manipulation of the system.
That’s been hard for some people to believe. It’s true, there are innocent souls among us. I would ask them whether they can believe voting districts are gerrymandered to give the party drawing them advantages at the polls. North Carolina has been called the most gerrymandered state in the nation when it comes to congressional districts, with nine out of 13 seats in the hands of Republicans even though Democratic candidates received more total votes.
So, yes, obviously gerrymandering serves partisan interests. If that’s so, why wouldn’t anyone believe that other election law changes also are meant to serve the same partisan interests?
A familiar response is that Democrats did it, too. Agreed. They gerrymandered, they introduced straight-ticket voting and same-day registration and early voting and preregistration all because they expected those measures to increase their vote.
Now Republicans are reversing them. The only questions are whether certain voting mechanisms are good public policy, and whether they allow all voters fair and equal access to the polls.
The second question is being addressed in court this week, and I’m not sure the challengers have a case. There’s no doubt in my mind that the election changes are meant to discourage, if not suppress, voting by people who tend to favor Democrats. It’s another proposition to convince a court that the changes are illegal.
Not every grievance can or should be resolved by judges, anyway. The people should settle some themselves.
As North Carolina voters become more aware of these election changes and think about why they were made, they’ll begin to turn against those responsible.
It’s not only straight-ticket voting. More than 150,000 voters used same-day registration in 2012, without serious problems. That’s been eliminated. More than 55,000 16- and 17-year-olds signed up to vote under the state’s preregistration program in 2012. They weren’t allowed to vote before turning 18, but they were on the books and ready. That’s been eliminated.
As North Carolina expanded opportunities to register and vote, voter participation in elections increased. This was good policy. Ironically, the surge in voting didn’t hurt Republicans, who claimed big victories in 2010 and 2012. But they could see trouble looming in some of the numbers: Early voting, preregistration, same-day registration and straight-ticket voting — although popular with everyone — all were utilized a little more by Democrats.
Republicans argue, of course, that they’re not trying to deter anyone from voting. The evidence suggests otherwise, but they should hope what they say is true. They have made a partisan overreach, and voters will figure it out — then respond.
Not by straight-ticket voting but candidate by candidate, all the way down the ballot.
http://www.news-record.com/opinion/columns/article_d40430d4-06e0-11e4-a094-001a4bcf6878.html
July 13, 2014 at 7:02 pm
Norm Kelly says:
So, Republicans make voting law changes for the sole purpose of eliminating some Democrat votes. But, this is not all. Republicans also change voting laws to impede black folks from voting.
When the demons controlled Raleigh and made voting law changes designed to garner more votes for libs, did anyone in the media complain? When libs refuse to allow picture ID to be used at the voting place, is this their support of voter fraud? When libs allowed same day registration & voting, was this their support for voter fraud or for allowing people who were too lazy to register on time to actually be able to vote anyway? This was obviously meant to improve demon voter turnout. Cuz more demon voters refuse to get off their butts and take care of things like registering on time than do Republican voters. And, as it turns out, it's easier to cheat when allowed to register & vote on the same day. But how did the press respond? How did anyone respond with following up to find out what the new stats were for voter fraud? Most of the time any claim of voter fraud is ignored. Most reports of voter fraud are simply never investigated and the stats are not kept. So we have no way of knowing how demon attempts to sway the vote in their favor turned out, from a fraud perspective.
But now that Republicans are in control, demons & libs find FAULT with every thing they do. Not just some things, but every little thing possible. And, typical of libs, the primary rant is that every little thing the Republicans do is racially motivated. Every time some lib talks about what Republicans are doing in Raleigh, they always say that the changes are intended to reduce minority votes.
Hopefully there are enough intelligent black voters out there who know that the buffet slayer is out of touch with reality. That's the polite way of saying he's lost his mind. As have most of the lib pundits who claim race is the reason for everything. We expect idiotic statements about race from both the occupier and Holder. They are both major racists who despise white people and don't care if everyone knows it. No matter the situation, both the occupier and Holder react first by referring to the stupid white people, second to the racist white people, and even refer to the perp as someone who might look like the occupiers son if he ever had one. But never do libs, and especially those 2, give credit or credence to any of the concerns by people who don't like the occupier because of his policies or his lack of ability to follow the law. Never do they give credit, either, to blacks being able to survive life without the kindness, generosity, and help of white liberal people. Perhaps a better way to look at Republicans, conservatives, and those who currently run Raleigh as those who believe that ALL people really are created equal, and even 'poor' black people can manage life on their own. What's the chances the demons/libs/socialists/buffet slayers are willing to let them have a try at it?
