Editorial: Elections bills impose solutions where there are no problems

Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023 -- Rather than erecting more impediments to getting qualified citizens to cast ballots, our legislators should be devoting their focus in exploring and enacting laws that encourage ALL those who are qualified to get registered and make it more convenient to vote.

Posted 9:00 a.m. Aug 16 — Updated 9:00 a.m. Aug 16

CBC Editorial: Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023; editorial #8865

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

The leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly seem to be on an unrelenting mission to impose solutions to problems that don’t exist. The result of this adventure just creates more problems. Just look at the mess, for one small example, that’s been made of the state Bureau of Investigation and its leadership.

In 2014 the Republican leaders of the legislature moved the bureau from the Department of Justice, where it was overseen by a Democratic attorney general (who now happens to be the governor) into the state Department of Public Safety (then overseen by the now-former Republican governor).

The agency is now distracted from its critical law enforcement mission and saddled with a director under investigation for mismanagement and discriminatory personnel practices while a set of trumped-up allegations against Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration are being hyped by a legislative committee.

More of the same is appearing in the GOP legislative leadership’s never-ending efforts to manipulate voting and election outcomes. Inspiration for this legislation – if not the actual structure and drafting – has been linked to networks of activist election deniers led by Celeta Mitchell, the lawyer who has played a key role in former President Donald Trump’s efforts, based on unfounded and false claims, to overturn the 2020 election.

With Senate Bill 747, approved Tuesday by the House Elections Committee, voters and election workers could have partisan “observers” stalking polling places, gazing over voters’ shoulders as they mark ballots and engaging polling place workers as they seek to conduct the election. Additionally this 42-page bill makes major changes in early voting, same-day voter registration, handling and deadlines for absentee ballots and how votes are counted.

It imposes new and costly duties on state and local elections officials without, as was pointed out in Tuesday’s House committee meeting, any way to pay for them.

That’s not all. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is a Democrat whose professional administration of her duties and agency have been critical to helping North Carolina maintain its dominant economic develop status through Democratic and Republican administrations.

In a passionate plea to the legislature, she warns in a letter that enactment of Senate Bill 749 presents a danger to the conduct of fair, open and honest elections. The legislation, she says, will:

“Distract this agency from serving the business community.”
“Result in significant voter confusion.”
“Lead to increased security concerns and death threats that have plagued other secretaries of state and their staffs in recent elections.”
Add “additional obligations to this agency—which is already stretched beyond capacity. (It) will unduly threaten delivery of services essential to the millions of North Carolina’s buy, sell, lend and borrow transactions that fuel the economic development engine of our state.”

None of the issues being addressed in these two bills have been shown to be problems in previous North Carolina elections nor have election administration officials raised concerns that they could.

Rather than erecting more impediments to getting qualified citizens to cast ballots, our legislators should be devoting their focus in exploring and enacting laws that encourage ALL those who are qualified to get registered and make it more convenient to vote.

Follow Secretary of State Elaine Marshall’s advice and plea. End consideration of these two misguided bills and act to truly help those who administer elections to do their jobs helping voters to carry out their duty to democracy.

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