North Carolina and Republicans' push to the extreme right

[greenforest32]

Btw greenforest, why don't Oregon and Washington have any polling stations? Why are you only allowed to mail in your vote?

It ended up that way as the state incrementally expanded early voting and no-excuse absentee (mail) ballots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon#History_of_postal_voting_in_Oregon

It wasn't long until the vast supermajority of votes were cast by mail and then things were slowly switched over to 100%-by-mail with the switch being billed as both more convenient for voters and less expensive for the state and local governments. The same thing happened in Washington state: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2011/04/05/washington-to-shift-to-all-vote-by-mail-elections/

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[eric82oslo]

Btw greenforest, why don't Oregon and Washington have any polling stations? Why are you only allowed to mail in your vote?

It ended up that way as the state incrementally expanded early voting and no-excuse absentee (mail) ballots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon#History_of_postal_voting_in_Oregon

It wasn't long until the vast supermajority of votes were cast by mail and then things were slowly switched over to 100%-by-mail with the switch being billed as both more convenient for voters and less expensive for the state and local governments. The same thing happened in Washington state: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2011/04/05/washington-to-shift-to-all-vote-by-mail-elections/

It is good to know that the primary reasoning for institute vote by mail was to increase voter participation. And that survey's show that 30% of respondents say they now vote more frequently thanks to vote by mail.

[greenforest32]

Btw greenforest, why don't Oregon and Washington have any polling stations? Why are you only allowed to mail in your vote?

It ended up that way as the state incrementally expanded early voting and no-excuse absentee (mail) ballots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon#History_of_postal_voting_in_Oregon

It wasn't long until the vast supermajority of votes were cast by mail and then things were slowly switched over to 100%-by-mail with the switch being billed as both more convenient for voters and less expensive for the state and local governments. The same thing happened in Washington state: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2011/04/05/washington-to-shift-to-all-vote-by-mail-elections/

It is good to know that the primary reasoning for institute vote by mail was to increase voter participation. And that survey's show that 30% of respondents say they now vote more frequently thanks to vote by mail.

Yeah but one of the downsides is that 100% vote-by-mail conflicts with a reform like same-day registration because ballots are mailed to registered voters about two weeks in advance of the election. Same-day registrations states like Minnesota actually have a higher turn-out rate than OR and WA because more people get registered so if we want to increase turn-out further and maintain a 100% mail system, we'd have to adopt something like automatic voter registration.

That (automatic voter registration) is something the Oregon secretary of state pushed for this year but a "moderate" Democratic state senator sided with Republicans to kill the bill. So that reform will have to wait until 2015 provided we can pick up a seat or two in the Nov 2014 elections to offset that state senator as they are unfortunately not being primaried and Democrats only have a 16-14 majority in the state senate during 2013-2014.

[barfbag]

I don't understand why people can't wait in line on election day ever for years like the good old days.

[MalaspinaGold]

I don't understand why people can't wait in line on election day ever for years like the good old days.

*Me thinks of Soviet Russia*

[barfbag]

I don't understand why people can't wait in line on election day ever for years like the good old days.

*Me thinks of Soviet Russia*

I meant to say every four years. We could have more polling places to vote at, open polls up at midnight, and make Election Day a national holiday.

[MalaspinaGold]

Well, IF we were to ever see a national holiday for election day, AND an increase in polling stations, then we can start talking. I don't think either party is going to do that though.

[barfbag]

Well, IF we were to ever see a national holiday for election day, AND an increase in polling stations, then we can start talking. I don't think either party is going to do that though.

Early voting and mail in ballots help Democrats so they'll never budge. It leads me to think these things causes voter fraud so they'll never budge. I'd like to see my party propose something small like this as a starter. Please check out my campaign finance reform bill under the political debate threads.

[illegaloperation]

Well, IF we were to ever see a national holiday for election day, AND an increase in polling stations, then we can start talking. I don't think either party is going to do that though.

Early voting and mail in ballots help Democrats so they'll never budge. It leads me to think these things causes voter fraud so they'll never budge. I'd like to see my party propose something small like this as a starter. Please check out my campaign finance reform bill under the political debate threads.

You got that wrong. Absentee ballot disproportionally benefits Republicans while early voting disproportionally benefits Democrats.

[MalaspinaGold]

Well, IF we were to ever see a national holiday for election day, AND an increase in polling stations, then we can start talking. I don't think either party is going to do that though.

Early voting and mail in ballots help Democrats so they'll never budge. It leads me to think these things causes voter fraud so they'll never budge. I'd like to see my party propose something small like this as a starter. Please check out my campaign finance reform bill under the political debate threads.

Also, is your idea for having a national holiday for election day similar to July 4th? If so, then that probably would not have fix that much; my evidence is that many companies for July 4th give most of their workers vacations and makes the remaining workers work 12 hours per day.

I still don't get what you have against early-voting. In my opinion, they are doing more than their civic duty; most realize that it would be hard to make it to vote on a workday/schoolday, and rather than skipping the hassle, they want to make their voice heard. True, it may be harder to combat voter fraud, but it has already been established that voter fraud is not really an issue. It's not being lazy whatsoever, it's just helping to streamline the process and reduce lines.

[illegaloperation]

I never understand why election day occurs on Tuesday,

It should happen on Sunday: the day most people don't have to work.

[barfbag]

I never understand why election day occurs on Tuesday,

It should happen on Sunday: the day most people don't have to work.

I could go for a Saturday. If Election Day were a holiday, then we could make it so all places had to be closed except of course for the media.

[MalaspinaGold]

If the election is on a Saturday, the Orthodox Jewish voting bloc will decline to sub-zero importance, as turnout would be close to 0%.

[barfbag]

If the election is on a Saturday, the Orthodox Jewish voting bloc will decline to sub-zero importance, as turnout would be close to 0%.

Well we should stick to the good old way of it being the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November then. I was only stating that I didn't have a problem with it. Absentee and early voting can cause problems. I'm not trying to be partisan about this.

[TarHeelDem]

Here's my take on all this...

The General Assembly has gone nuts and Gov. McCrory is throwing his political career down the drain. Unfortunately, the gerrymandering will keep the Assembly Republican for several cycles. However, I do expect Senator Hagan to be reelected in 2014. Before all these Republican shenanigans I wasn't so sure but especially without a strong challenger, Hagan should expect victory. Come 2016, Hillary will carry the state and Gov. McCrory will very likely lose if he attempts reelection. I can't say the same for Senator Burr. He has a much better record, recently speaking out against fellow Republicans for trying (yet again) to repeal Obamacare. My current prediction is that he would win, but a Democratic wave in 2016 could change that.

[illegaloperation]

Here's my take on all this...

The General Assembly has gone nuts and Gov. McCrory is throwing his political career down the drain. Unfortunately, the gerrymandering will keep the Assembly Republican for several cycles. However, I do expect Senator Hagan to be reelected in 2014. Before all these Republican shenanigans I wasn't so sure but especially without a strong challenger, Hagan should expect victory. Come 2016, Hillary will carry the state and Gov. McCrory will very likely lose if he attempts reelection. I can't say the same for Senator Burr. He has a much better record, recently speaking out against fellow Republicans for trying (yet again) to repeal Obamacare. My current prediction is that he would win, but a Democratic wave in 2016 could change that.

We are on the same page.

[barfbag]

Here's my take on all this...

The General Assembly has gone nuts and Gov. McCrory is throwing his political career down the drain. Unfortunately, the gerrymandering will keep the Assembly Republican for several cycles. However, I do expect Senator Hagan to be reelected in 2014. Before all these Republican shenanigans I wasn't so sure but especially without a strong challenger, Hagan should expect victory. Come 2016, Hillary will carry the state and Gov. McCrory will very likely lose if he attempts reelection. I can't say the same for Senator Burr. He has a much better record, recently speaking out against fellow Republicans for trying (yet again) to repeal Obamacare. My current prediction is that he would win, but a Democratic wave in 2016 could change that.

So if the Democrats put forth this type of alienation, you'd be against it?

[TarHeelDem]

I'm going to avoid the loaded can of worms in that question and simply answer "yes".

Sad that the final Moral Monday protest is tomorrow. Hopefully the movement keeps on growing and more action is taken against the Assembly's absurd measures.

[Space7]

I don't understand why people can't wait in line on election day ever for years like the good old days.

What's wrong with early voting?

Everyone should be able to have an opinion in the form of a vote, and if they want to vote early, why not? It's not exactly an evil concept.

I hope you don't want them to not vote simply because they're mostly Democrats, but what other reason?

[eric82oslo]

E. J. Dionne on North Carolina:

"To get a sense of how bad these laws are, consider the bill Republicans rushed through both houses of North Carolina's Legislature that should be called the Omnibus Voter Suppression Act of 2013. It reads like a parody written for Stephen Colbert's show with its cornucopia of provisions that would make it as hard as possible for African-Americans, Latinos and young people to vote.

As the Charlotte Observer reported, it shortens the early-voting period, eliminates the opportunity to register and vote on the same day during that time, and ends pre-registration for teenagers 16 to 17. The bill also prevents counties from extending voting hours when lines are long -- which they will be with the cutback on early voting days. It not only requires photo identification, but also narrows the list of what's acceptable, eliminating college IDs, for example."

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/07/29/fighting_back_on_voting_rights_119398.html

A North Carolinian cornucopia of voter suppression:

[StateBoiler]

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That does not exist. I tried to do it in 2002 while attending North Carolina State University and was told no.

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AFAIK, we've never had pre-registration for teens 16 and 17. If we did, it was never advertised and none of us when we were in high school knew about it. I registered to vote for the 2000 election shortly after I turned 18 in October of that year.

N.C. in a nutshell: the Democrats have ran the state for the last 140 years, and their most recent people in charge did a pretty bad job as we ran out of money and they were corrupt on top of it (Perdue, Easley and his wife, Meg Scott Phipps going further back). When you throw in that Easley got his pet cause lottery enacted - a tax on poor people too stupid to understand probabilities - and we still ran out of money, it's pretty amazing. Perdue didn't even bother to run for reelection knowing she would get killed, and this is North Carolina where 10% of the electorate decide every single election because they in general vote Republican in federal politics and Democrat in state politics.

Perdue is from my hometown and it absolutely appalls me she got to governor. She ran on she was good for education when she intentionally killed educational opportunities for kids in her county that if they pursued it they were ensured a middle-class living without even leaving the area. Now there's a shortage of people to work at a major government employer in the area and none of the kids know how to do that work because Perdue actively sought to kill technical education programs. She actually went to my school I was attending when she was a state senator to push this.

On a grander scale, what has happened to the state is all of the economic development that has occurred in the Triangle area and Charlotte over the past 2 decades has not transferred at all to the rest of the state. I used to live and work in Rocky Mount, and in my time there, three major job suppliers to the area left with no replacement. Hardee's was based there, got bought by Carl's Jr., and moved to California. Centura Bank was based there, got bought by RBC as part of their American expansion, and moved most of the workforce to Raleigh. And Barcalounger which made furniture went out of business. Farming has declined because of federal changes in how tobacco is farmed. The only money in eastern North Carolina as far as the economy is concerned is the military (there's tourism :rolleyes: , the only time all year people in the state's big cities remember the eastern part of the state exists is when they drive to the beach). Throw in that rural blacks are poor and while they vote Democrat every election, they're socially conservative on issues and their plight in life has not been helped, I can't look at the state and say the Democrats with their near absolute control of the state they've enjoyed has been good for us. Transplants in Cary may disagree, but they have no use for the rest of the state and are from New Jersey anyway.

McCrory has done a decent job running Charlotte. It must be good enough for when Obama hired a former mayor to be one of his secretaries to give him credit for something McCrory did in the city.

[StateBoiler]

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What turned N.C. in 2008 was Obama was black and black turnout went up. When Obama has not been on the ballot, black turnout remained at historical levels. Hillary last I checked wasn't black.

On McCrory, of course he should lose, he's a Republican in a Democrat state. Look at the last 140 years of this state, the only way a Republican wins governor in this state is if the Democrats do a horrible job for an extended period of time.

[eric82oslo]

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That does not exist. I tried to do it in 2002 while attending North Carolina State University and was told no.

It wasn't in effect as early as 2002.

[TarHeelDem]

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What turned N.C. in 2008 was Obama was black and black turnout went up. When Obama has not been on the ballot, black turnout remained at historical levels. Hillary last I checked wasn't black.

I don't think we can assume that black turnout will return to 2004 levels (is that what you're insinuating?) in 2016. We haven't had a presidential election without Obama on the ballot since then. 2012 black turnout matched 2008 levels, contrary to the common expectation. Who's to say it will significantly drop in 2016? Some people say Bill Clinton was the first black president, and while jocular, I think that statement gives one something to think about. The African-American community has associated itself with the Democratic Party for quite some time now. I don't see blacks choosing the Republican candidate over Hillary when the GOP has had problems with minorities for as long as they have.

And before NC's recent bill, preregistration was a common practice in the state. You did it at the DMV when you took the driver's license test. I know this because I preregistered to vote two months ago (I am seventeen). I find it deeply troubling that youth younger than me will be unable to enjoy the same ease of access to exercising their right to vote when the time comes.

[greenforest32]

Interesting article on the person pushing the 'Moral Monday' protests:

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Read more at http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/with-hundreds-of-arrests-north-carolina-preacher-ups-the-stakes-in-showdown-with-republicans-85899488941

Another recent one with more background: http://prospect.org/article/moral-mondays-and-south%E2%80%99s-new-liberal-gospel