STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 09-24-20
WHITE HOUSE SENDING RAPID RESULTS COVID-19 TESTS TO HBCUS
[GREENSBORO] Reportedly in a effort control the further outbreak of the coronavirus in the black community, the White House is sending hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 test to HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) across the nation, starting with 41 public universities. According to published reports, 250,000 tests have already been sent, an next week, an estimated 300,000 more are scheduled to be shipped to 65 more. Several North Carolina schools, including Winston-Salem State University and N.C. A&T University are on the list to receive.
LATER DEADLINE FOR MAIL-IN BALLOTS BEING CONSIDERED
[RALEIGH] Thanks to a recent lawsuit settlement that at presstime Tuesday still has to be approved by a judge, the State Board of Elections is reportedly considering extending the deadline that absentee mail-in ballots are required to be returned for the upcoming Nov. 3rd general election. The new cutoff date would be Nov. 12th if a judge approves, because of expected postal delays. Republican legislative leaders have blasted the legal settlement.
HBCU CHANCELLORS OPPOSE UNC SYSTEM PROPOSED POLICY CHANGE
[CHAPEL HILL] The UNC System Board of Governors is scheduled today to vote on a policy change that would allow the system president further influence how UNC chancellors are chosen by adding two candidates to the selection process. Those candidates would automatically move forward in the selection process. Currently, after a search, the trustee boards at individual UNC schools forward two candidates to the system president, who then selects the finalist. Trustees at HBCUs say they can’t trust “white conservative men” to choose chancellors for their Black schools because they don’t know the culture nor the history.
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OUR ENDORSEMENTS 2020 (PART 1)
Every two years (general election and midterms0 The Wilmington Journal has proudly shred with you, our readers and community, our opinions of, and endorsements for some of those who wish to serve us in public office. This crucial election year is no different, except that we’re doing it a little earlier this year because voting for the Nov. 3rd general election has actually started now, thanks to mail-in absentee ballots.
It is because of the COVID-19 pandemic that mail-in ballots are so prominent now, and at last check, over 930,000 have been sent out statewide, and have already begun coming back in.
Remember, if you want a mail-in absentee ballot to vote by, you must be a registered NC voter, and go online to https://votebymail.ncsbe.gov/app/home to request a ballot be sent to you. When you receive it, make your candidate choices, sign it, and a witness to your signature sign it too.
Then either send it back, or drop it off at your New Hanover County Board of Elections office (230 Government Center Drive, Suite 38, Wilmington - 910-798-7300) by 5 p.m on Nov. 3rd, Election Day. By mail, it must be postmarked by Nov. 3rd, and arrive by Nov. 4th before 5 p.m..
For those who don’t mail-in vote, One Stop Early in-person voting begins Oct. 15 through Oct. 31st.
Remember, whether you choose to vote by mail, by early vote, or on Election Day, you can only vote ONCE! Go to https://northcarolina.ballottrax.net/voter/ to track your ballot once you send it back. It is against the law to vote twice in the same election in North Carolina.
These are our endorsements for president, Congress, governor, lt. governor and the NC Council of State.
By law, North Carolinians have to vote for each candidate choice individually on the ballot. The names offices here are exactly as printed on your ballot. When you vote, vote BOTH sides of your ballot. All are Democrats.
Indeed, we’re not always happy with the Democratic Party, and the way it sometimes treats the African-American community.
But compared to the Republican Party - both here in North Carolina and in Washington, D.C. - which was, at best, racist, scheming, and deceitful BEFORE Donald Trump was dubiously elected, we cannot, in good conscience, recommend ANY Republican we know of today to serve in public office.
The Grand Old Party has, quite simply, allowed itself to be co-opted by one of the most racist, criminal and incompetent leaders of the 20th century serving as president of the United States we’ve ever seen.
It is because of Donald Trump that over 200,000 Americans - a third of them Black and Brown - are dead because of the coronavirus. It is because of him that racist police officers now feel free to kill any person of color they want.
And it is because of Trump that this nation is more divided, more hateful, than it’s ever been in it’s history.
No Republican who supports Donald Trump can escape those realities. In fact, they all share the blame that is royally his.
So no, we’re not totally pleased with the Democratic Party on a number of issues, but Lord knows, at least it’s slate of candidates possess a minimum degree of decency and competency.
The highest priority of this election is to remove Donald Trump as president, and return the United States Congress to the Democrats.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN AND KAMALA D. HARRIS
for President and Vice President of the United States
CAL CUNNINGHAM
for U.S. Senate
CHRISTOPHER M. WARD
for U.S. House…District 7
ROY COOPER
for N.C. Governor
YVONNE LEWIS HOLLEY
for N.C. Lieutenant Governor
JOSH STEIN
for N.C. Attorney General
BETH A. WOOD
for N.C. Auditor
JENNA WADSWORTH
for N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture
WAYNE GOODWIN
for N.C. Commissioner of Insurance
JESSICA HOLMES
for N.C. Commissioner of Labor
ELAINE MARSHALL
for N.C. Secretary of State
JEN MANGRUM
for N.C. Supt. of Public Instruction
RONNIE CHATTERJI
for N.C. Treasurer
VOTE!
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BLACK VOTERS AND
MAIL-IN BALLOTS
By Cash Michaels
Special to NCBPA members:
As of today, Sept. 24, 2020, there are 40 days before the crucial November 3 general election.
To all voters in North Carolina, that means you have 15 days left before the regular registration deadline, October, twenty-one days before the "One Stop Early Voting" period. This will be October 15 - October 31. There are 33 days left to request your mail-in absentee ballot. The last day for this is Oct. 27.
However, if you do plan to vote by mail, you are urged not to wait, but to do so immediately, given that it is fully expected that there will be mail delays, and your mail-in ballots may not arrive by Election Day in time to count.
Thus far, out of 7,144,785 registered voters in North Carolina, as of Sept. 20, 930,047 mail-in absentee ballots had been requested.
All registered North Carolina voters may request a mail-in absentee ballot for the November 3, 2020 election, but, in order for them to count, they must be properly filled out, signed and witnessed.
According to the NCSBE.gov website, “After you request a ballot, please allow a week to 10 days for it to get to you. If you do not receive your ballot within that time, contact your county Board of Elections. When your ballot is accepted by your county Board of Elections, that information will be posted in your voter record.
You may request a mail-in ballot, but decide not to use it, and go vote in person instead. You may not do both, as you can only vote once.
Voter photo identification is not required for the Nov. 3 election.
Back to mail-in voting. There has been "a slew" of national articles in the past week noting that, with North Carolina being the first in the nation to institute mail-in absentee voting as of Sept. 17, mail-in ballots from African-American voters are being rejected by the SBOE at least four times as much as those from White North Carolina voters.
The majority of those rejected ballots are because either of a mistake or the failure to have someone fill out the witness information.
The reason for this has nothing to do with color, for many young voters make the same mistake, experts note.
Mail-in voting is new for those groups voting absentee for the first time, and, thus, mistakes are made during the process.
“We’re seeing already a lack of familiarity with the process, whether it’s signing the ballot or having the witness information completed,” political scientist, Professor Michael Bitzer, of Catawba College, Salisbury, N. C., told the website FiveThirtyEight, “There tends to be a greater number from voters who were previously in-person voters. If you look at the numbers [from Sept. 14], the ballots denied due to incomplete witness information, 55 percent of those voters had voted in person in 2016.”
Right now, the number of Black rejected ballots is less than a thousand, but that number can grow rapidly if voters are not made aware and the ballots corrected.
Luckily, North Carolina is one of a handful of states that does allow rejected mail-in voters to correct their mistakes once the ballot envelopes are returned.
Two of the most common mistakes are the failure to sign mail-in ballots where indicated and failure to have one witness sign where indicated.
The best advice is, once you have received your mail-in ballot, plan to have your witness ready before you fill it out.
You can either mail back your ballot by Oct. 27 or drop it off at your county Board of Elections before Nov. 3.
All ballots will be tracked. You can look up your ballot status (received, accepted or rejected) at www.youcanvote.org/lookup. For ballots to be accepted, they must arrive by 5 p. m. on Nov. 3, Election Day, or be postmarked by Nov. 3 and arrive by Nov. 6.
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[UPDATED AND CORRECTED]
VOTERS CONCERNED BIDEN CAMPAIGN
IS NOT DOING ENOUGH TO WIN
NORTH CAROLINA
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
This week it was reported that a “Women for Trump” tour through North Carolina was kicking off, and Trump himself is visiting Charlotte today - his fifth NC trip in a month - and that was after the Republican president made a fly-in campaign stop at Fayetteville Airport last Saturday.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden made his first in-person foray into North Carolina with a visit to Charlotte yesterday, having limited the campaign to two virtual events last week.
The Joe Biden - Kamala Harris presidential campaign has made it clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely limited his ability to freely campaign in key battleground states like North Carolina, and yet, in a Sept. 18th non-scientific survey of voters on social media, the general feeling is in order to win North Carolina six weeks from now, and with the race in North Carolina between Biden and Trump a virtual deadheat, 47-47, the Democrat has to do more.
The question isn’t whether Joe Biden will get the lion share of the Black vote cast, but rather will it be enough to help him win North Carolina outright?
The question posed on Facebook was, “With less than 50 days to go to the election, what is the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris team doing wrong?”
The answers from both Black and white posters were striking.
Tom E. rhetorically asked of Harris, “ Where has she been?, suggesting Sen. Harris is not as visible on the camping trial as she should be.
Al L. Posited, “Need to go to Pennsylvania, Carolina and Florida, and not [just to the big cities, they need to hit the suburbs and outlying areas. Can’t let [Trump] out campaign them.”
Al later added, “Gotta do more and can’t stop.”
S. Annamarie warned, “ Allowing the “socialism” message from the trump campaign to steal the Latino vote.”
Vince B. Didn’t mince words.
“In my opinion, they are running one of the worst campaigns I have witnessed. Milk toast, softball play defense marketing strategies that, quite frankly, makes the entire Democratic Party look weak. So many issues to attack 45 [on], and I have yet to see one of any substance or one that makes me feel a certain way.”
Diann F. Said, “They need to go to the swing states and talk to the people. Don’t let 45 steal Latino votes with lies. Fight. We know there’s a pandemic, but be safe and get out there and act like they want the job. Assume nothing.”
Q. Monique E. Said she didn’t think Biden an Harris were “screwing up…”, but “they are not delivering the message that solves the problems. All the advertising is about vision. You can’t give a hungry person a picture of food. They must actually be given food.”
She continued, “It feels like the Democrats aren’t able to fight the Republicans because when they look across the table at them, they share more in common…than they actually share with their Democratic voters….”
Corona CK. Wrote, “Rural area’s outreach needs to improve. I view the Trump outreach in my area from car and boat parades. Voter registration campaign outreach from the Republicans. National Democratic Party needs to spend more in the South.”
Other commenters suggested that the Biden-Harris campaign needs to “get out more;” find a way to Appel to the “uneducated” Trump voter; do joint campaign rally with Gov. Cooper and other state Democrats; and talk more about saving Medicare and Social Security.
The Biden campaign vows that the candidates will be more visible across the state in the coming weeks.
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