STATE APPELLATE COURT
DUMPS VOTER ID PERHAPS
FOR ALL OF 2020
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
What a federal judge stopped short of doing weeks ago, a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals may have now done - put the nail in the coffin of voter photo identification for the rest of 2020, and with it, the November 3rd general elections.
On Tuesday, in a 45-page ruling, that panel of three Democrat appellate judges unanimously ruled that North Carolina’s voter ID law was deliberately discriminatory towards African American voters. Thus, the judicial panel of Toby Hampson, John Arrowood and Allegra Collins issued a preliminary injunction temporarily shelving the law (Senate Bill 824) until trial.
Most observers agree that a trial in this matter most likely won’t be scheduled to commence until after the Nov. 3rd general election, meaning that the preliminary injunction will remain in force automatically through then.
It was Dec 31, 2019, when US District Court Judge Loretta Biggs, an Obama appointee, similarly ruled Republican lawmakers in the NC General Assembly had “discriminatory intent” against African Americans when it passed SB 824 a year earlier. She issued a preliminary injunction against the voter ID, making it ineligible to be enacted per the March 3rd primaries, for which early voting is currently going on. But Judge Biggs injunction was seen as expiring before the November elections.
She also noted that the federal courts had determined the very same discriminatory intent when the GOP-led legislature passed the 2013 voter ID law, which was eventually struck down by a federal court.
GOP lawmakers, after voters ratified a constitutional amendment establishing voter ID in Nov. 2018, then passed the law, saying that majority of North Carolinians had spoken.
But voters were only told what the amendment was, never how it it establish voter ID, and that’s where now two courts - one federal and one state- have both grabbed the Republican-led NC General Assembly by the collar, and legally chastised it for passing a law that was racially discriminatory.
In Tuesday’s unanimous decision, Judge Hampson wrote, “….the evidence shows the General Assembly specifically left out types of IDs that African Americans disproportionately lack. Such a choice speaks more of an intention to target African American voters rather than a desire to comply with the newly created Amendment in a fair and balanced manner. Accordingly, we conclude, on this Record, Defendants have yet to show S.B. 824 would have been enacted in its current form irrespective of any alleged underlying discriminatory intent.”
In both the federal and stat court rulings, the judges indicated that Republican lawmakers were likely to lose their case.
Attorney Irving Joyner, chair of North Carolina Central University School of Law, applauded the appellate decision in the case, Holmes v. Moore.
“The Court of Appeals opinion in Holmes v. Moore is just another recognition by a “court of law” that the North Carolina General Assembly acted with continuing racial animus when it enacted the latest Voter ID requirement. The Holmes opinion tracked, in large part, the reasoning that Judge Loretta Biggs recently reached in NC NAACP v. NC Board of Elections when she reached the same conclusion in a similar case in federal court.”
Atty. Joyner continued, “It was instructive that both of these courts acknowledged that the North Carolina General Assembly had made no efforts to correct or even address the racial animus that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had concluded, in a 2016 opinion (of the 2013 voter ID law), existed and was the foundation for legislators previous effort in 2013 to enact a photo ID requirement in North Carolina. Every court which has reviewed the constitutionality of the Voter ID scheme in this State have concluded that its design and intent was to suppress the votes of African Americans and Latinos which violates federal and North Carolina law.”
Republicans couldn’t disagree more.
“North Carolinians know that General Assembly leaders will continue to fight on their behalf for a commonsense voter ID law that they chose to put in our state constitution, and we will not be deterred by judicial attempts to suppress the people’s voice in the democratic process,” said House Speaker Tim Moore, who is named in the case.
“Activist Democrat judges are undermining the votes of more than 2 million North Carolinians by throwing out our voter ID law. It’s time to restore the rule of law in North Carolina,” opined Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican candidate for governor.
But atty Joyner has a message for disgruntled GOP’ers.
“It is time for this flagrant exhibition of racial animus by the North Carolina General Assembly to end,” he said. “The State should acknowledge its past misconduct and history and immediately cease and desist any further efforts to suppress the vote and political participation by African Americans and Latinos. Shame, Shame Shame!!!
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NO STRAIGHT-PARTY VOTING
IN NORTH CAROLINA
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
There are only seven states in the nation where you can straight-ticket vote in the November 3rd general election.
North Carolina is not one of them.
That has no affect of the One Stop Early Voting/Same Day Registration that started last week, ending on February 29th , or voting in the March 3rd North Carolina and Super Tuesday 15-state primaries.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still confusion.
In primary voting, voters are given ballots that list only their registered party’s candidates for particular elective offices.
There is no straight-party voting during primaries.
The voter selects from the candidates of their party listed as to whom will be the nominee going into the November 3rd general election, running against the chosen nominee from the opposing political party (s).
The general election is the process by which registered voters from both political parties decide which candidate will prevail in ultimately being elected to office. That is when, traditionally, straight-party voting would normally take place in North Carolina.
That is until 2013, when the Republican-led NC General Assembly passed General Statute 163-165.6 eliminating straight-party voting in the state, reportedly in an effort to make long candidate ballots daunting for Democratic voters. The GOP then also passed the large voter omnibus law, which, among other things, mandated photo voter identification be used for in-person voting.
That part of the omnibus law was struck down by the courts, but the prohibition against straight-ticket voting remained.
Now, since 2014, if your party has a large number of candidates listed on a presidential year ballot, you, as a registered voter, are required to read through and check each candidate you are voting for, even if you only intended to vote for your party’s entire slate.
One of the reasons why this is of key interest during this presidential election is because until 2013 in North Carolina, straight-party voting in North Carolina meant voting for the president and vice president of the United States as a team separately from all of the other down ballot races, then the rest as one straight ticket. So voters intending to vote for the president/vice president, and all of the candidates of one party, had to mark two boxes, not one.
This led to a lot of confusion at the polls, however, when many who voted straight-ticket neglected to vote for president/vice president at all, causing ‘undervotes’, or incomplete ballots.
Reportedly in the 2000 presidential elections, 3.15% of North Carolina ballots submitted did not have votes for president/vice president, or approximately 92,000 ballots.
Thanks to the 2013 voter omnibus law, that problem will no longer exist.
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SANDERS
BIDEN STILL LEADS WITH
BLACK VOTERS IN STATE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
With the March 3rd North Carolina/Super Tuesday primaries just around the corner, the presidential campaign of former Vice Pres. Joe Biden - seen on the ropes by the national press after his disastrous fourth and fifth place showings in the predominately-white Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries respectively - is desperately hoping for a triumphant comeback to Democratic presidential campaign dominance with wins in both South Carolina, followed immediately by victory here in the Tar Heel state.
In the race for Democratic Party delegates, Biden, who enjoys significant support from African-American voters, primarily because of his eight years with former Pres. Barack Obama, is losing steam fast, say poll observers.
According to the latest Post and Courier-Change Research poll of Feb. 2, Biden’s once coming 30-point lead in South Carolina for the Feb. 29th primary, has shrunk to just a five-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), who is gaining tremendous momentum after strong first and second place finishes in New Hampshire and the Iowa caucuses.
Of particular concern to Biden - how much of the black vote can he hold onto in South Carolina, and North Carolina.
South Carolina is seen as critical because at least 50% of Democratic Party registration in the Palmetto State is African American.
According to recent polls, 30% of African-American Democrats in South Carolina favor Biden; nineteen percent support Sen. Sanders, and surprisingly, another 17 percent support billionaire businessman Tom Steyer, who thus far, has not garnered any notable support elsewhere.
The South Carolina focus for Biden is critical because of the immediate March 3rd North Carolina primary followup, and how the black vote is seen for him here.
According to Public Policy Polling, as of Feb. 6th, Joe Biden was leading the Democratic Party priory field with 25%, followed closely by Sen. Sanders with 16%, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg with 14%.
Another poll from the same PPP period, the High Point University (HPU) poll, shows Biden’s lead in North Carolina vanishing, with Sen. Sanders leading him 25% to 19%.
The HPU poll was done before the New Hampshire primary.
Bloomberg is making his first primary entry on March 3rd with all 15 Super Tuesday primaries, including in North Carolina. He is also the only Democratic candidate to show forward movement in the PPP poll, from 8% to 14%. Biden, on the other hand, has dropped six points, while Sanders has dropped 2.
PPP reports that with African American NC voters, Biden is at 39%, followed by 12% for Bloomberg, and 10% for Sanders.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 02-20-20
BLOOMBERG, SANDERS LEAD IN NEW NC POLL
[RALEIGH] With two weeks to go to the March 3rd Super Tuesday primary, a new WRAL-TV/SurveyUSA poll shows former NY Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a virtual dead heat at 22 percent in the race for Democratic Party primary voters, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden at 20 percent. Former South Bend., Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg was fourth with 11 percent, Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 8 percent, and sen. Amy Klobuchar with 5 percent. Eleven percent of those polled were undecided.
DURHAM PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS RETURN AFTER EVACUATION
[DURHAM] Families of the McDougald Terrace public housing complex began returning to their homes last week, over month after they were evacuated because of discovered carbon monoxide leaks. But when some got back, many found that their apartments had been broken into, and their possessions stolen. According to published reports, nearly two dozen of the 360 apartments evacuated had been broken into, with windows broken. Residents complained to the Durham City Council that the security firm hired to safeguard the properties didn’t do their job.
REP. LINDA JOHNSON OF CABARRUS DIES OF CANCER
[RALEIGH] Republican House representative Linda Johnson of Cabarrus County has died after it was discovered two weeks ago that she had tumors in her brain. She was originally being treated for a stroke when the discovery by doctors was made. Reportedly, Johnson suffered another stroke Sunday while preparing to undergo radiation therapy. Rep. Johnson seven in the state house for 19 years. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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