You might be a North Carolina voter if.....
Published October 6, 2014
by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, October 6, 2014.
...You're confused about when and how you can register to vote and cast a ballot in the midterm elections.
The General Assembly's 2013 changes to elections laws, combined with ongoing court battles over them, have fueled uncertainty about whether voters will be able to register during the early voting period this year, which they've been allowed to do in the past.
It's also unclear whether voters will be able to cast ballots outside of their assigned precincts on Election Day (Nov. 4). As of late last week, as the result of the most recent court decision, voters can register and vote during early voting, which runs from Oct. 23 to Nov. 1. They also can vote outside of their home precincts. But both of those details could change in the days before the election. The U.S. Supreme Court still may decide that certain election law changes enacted last year should be in place for this election.
Suggestion: If you haven't already, register to vote by Friday (Oct. 10). That way, you'll be able to vote this year regardless of what the courts decide. And vote in your assigned precinct to ensure that your votes on all races are counted. If still confused, call your local board of elections.
...You think you need a photo ID to vote this year.
Josh Lawson, a State Board of Elections spokesman, said some voters still think they need identification to cast a ballot this year. You do NOT need any type of identification to vote in 2014 in North Carolina. The ID requirement begins with the 2016 elections.
...You recently registered as an unaffiliated voter.
Statistics from the State Board show the percentage of unaffiliated voters in North Carolina increased from about 18 percent of the total electorate in 2004 to more than 27 percent in 2014. During that span, unaffiliated voters nearly doubled from about 910,000 in 2004 to nearly 1.8 million today. Unaffiliated voters now outnumber those of a major party in more than half of North Carolina's 100 counties. They have surpassed Republicans in 36 counties and Democrats in 19.
...The voter makeup in your state House or Senate district – or both – is so lopsided in favor of either Democrats or Republicans that you could pretty easily guess who's going to win.
Redistricting, as it often does, has left most of the 170 state House and Senate districts skewed in favor of one party or another. That means many legislative races are all but decided before Election Day, and Republicans who drew the maps are all but assured of keeping majorities in both chambers for two more years.
...Only one candidate appears on your ballot for your state legislative district.
The lack of competitive districts also results in many uncontested House and Senate races. This year, candidates in 19 of the 50 state Senate districts don't have opponents on Nov. 4, while 59 of 120 House seats are already decided because only one name will appear on ballots.
...You're confused, frustrated or apathetic because of all of the above.
Suggestion: Vote anyway.
October 7, 2014 at 10:20 am
Norm Kelly says:
'Only one candidate appears on your ballot for your state legislative district'. This IS NOT NEW!
The rest of this post has to do with people being confused because of voting law changes, and the misinformation being provided to people by those in the media, left-wingers, and one conservative group.
This particular line item is not new this time around. If you want to say anything about competitive races, please include history. Go back, say, 20 or 30 years and provide the number of non-competitive races across the state. At the same time, include which party controlled Raleigh. Also include which party was responsible for gerrymandering districts at that time. All of this is relevant information. Without proper facts & figures, there is no way for US to know if this is a meaningful occurrence.
Or was this post partially to continue to add confusion to lib voters, or provide more disinformation to encourage lib and low-information voters to vote OUT/AGAINST any Republican on any ballot? If your intent was to continue to encourage anyone, I truly hope that it encourages conservative voters to come out in droves to put a nail in the coffin of this foolish argument. It's time that voting laws are set and not left to those who wish to add confusion or use this as a wedge item when it shouldn't be.
How many people has the Rev Buffet Slayer personally brought to a voter registration location to make sure they were properly registered with all the proper forms in place before going? If the Rev hasn't helped make this happen, then he is simply another race pimp and should be ignored/shunned by media types. Even though both the Rev and the vast majority of media types are of the same stripe, it's about time more media types became reporters of news instead of mouthpieces for demon pols. Facts & figures irritate lib pols and their supporters but that is not reason for media types to also ignore facts & figures. It's time more media types were honest and actually asked tough questions of their allies (that would be lib pols for you left-wingers). It's well past time for media types to report truth about BOTH parties, even when your favorite lib pol says or does something stup1d. It's time that media types stopped carrying the demon party talking points. When you challenge virtually everything Republican, you show your true bias.
