The NC GOP parts ways with firm linked to voter registration fraud

Paid voter registration efforts are nothing new. While campaigns would prefer to rely on volunteers, signing up voters can by drudgery.

But Republicans have been running on a platform that includes requiring photo ID when voters go to the polls as a way to combat voter fraud. So there's an heavy dose of irony that the GOP has been paying a company that is itself linked to questionable voting practices. 

Asked several questions about this today, North Carolina GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood e-mailed me the following: "The NCGOP takes any threat to the voting process very seriously. We have terminated our relationship with Strategic Allied Consultants." 

"North Carolina Republicans have spared no time or expense in their efforts to limit democracy and keep North Carolinians out of the democratic process. North Carolina is fortunate that Democrats fought against GOP efforts to pass discriminatory voter ID laws. Now Republicans are using this unethical and shady firm to try to get a leg up in this election because they know North Carolinians aren't interested in their message of slashing education to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. I am calling on the North Carolina Republican Party to denounce this group and their shameful tactics and to immediately fire this firm."