Opinion Roundup: Voter suppression, ballot harvesting, Silent Sam woes and more

Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018 -- A round up of opinion, commentary and analysis on: Absentee vote changes may have invited 'ballot harvesting,' inquiry into 9th Congressional District extends into Robeson, Mark Harris says he'll accept new election if fraud found, Silent Sam decision provokes loud response at UNC, Gov. Cooper declares state of emergency and more.

RICHARD HASEN: Republicans Use Potential GOP Election Crimes in N.C. to Push for More Voter Suppression (Slate magazine column) -- The circumstances surrounding the N.C. election controversy are profoundly depressing, because they reveal that even incontrovertible facts are not going to get in the way of a narrative used to justify a host of suppressive laws aimed at making it harder for those likely to vote for Democrats to register and to vote, not only in N.C., but in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, and elsewhere.

NATE COHN: Why Voting Anomalies Are Impossible to Ignore in N.C. (New York Times reports) -- After a long election season, there is just one House race where the result remains in serious doubt: N.C.’s Ninth Congressional District. The state’s Board of Elections has refused to certify the narrow 905-vote lead that the Republican, Mark Harris, holds over the Democrat, Dan McCready, and is investigating allegations of absentee ballot fraud. A variety of evidence is consistent with an absentee ballot-harvesting scheme; that is, a coordinated effort to persuade voters to return their absentee ballots, possibly unsealed, to paid operatives who may have then changed or discarded them.

ROB SCHOFIELD: An embarrassing display of election dishonestly (Winston-Salem Journal column) -- At some point, you would think the embarrassment factor would kick in for North Carolina Republican leaders.

GARY ROBERTSON: Absentee vote changes may have invited 'ballot harvesting' (AP reports) -- Changes made to absentee voting procedures five years ago in N.C. may have emboldened workers to run the type of illegal "ballot-harvesting" operation alleged to have been used in a disputed congressional race, election experts and lawmakers said. The heavily Republican Legislature crafted the 2013 law that scaled back some voting options amid a national GOP push for voter ID laws and other restrictions. Many provisions were struck down in court, but unchallenged absentee changes may have opened wider a door to possible widespread fraud.

TRAVIS FAIN: State inquiry into 9th Congressional District extends into Robeson (WRAL-TV reports) -- Bladen County may have been the hub of an alleged vote harvesting scheme, but more ballots are missing in Robeson County.

AMY GARDNER: N.C. GOP candidate says he ‘would wholeheartedly support a new election’ if evidence emerges that fraud affected results (Washington Post reports) -- Mark Harris, the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District election, issued a video saying he would “wholeheartedly support” a new election if evidence emerges that criminal activity swayed the outcome of the Nov. 6 race.

TRAVIS FAIN, WRAL: Harris says he'll accept new 9th District election if substantial fraud found (WRAL-TV reports) -- Mark Harris on Friday joined a growing chorus of Republicans who say they'll accept a new election in the 9th Congressional District if substantial fraud is proven in the race.

VALERIE BAUERLEIN & REID EPSTEIN: N.C. Republican Says He Would Support New Election if Probe Finds Wrongdoing (Wall Street Journal reports) -- The Republican who appeared to win a North Carolina congressional race said he would back a new election if an investigation finds illegal activity ‘could have changed the outcome of the election.’

Vote Fraud Shouldn’t Be Easy (Wall Street Journal) -- One lesson from this mess is the folly of pushing to expand ballot access without regard for ballot integrity. North Carolina implemented “no excuse” early voting in 2000, which was expanded in 2002 to mail-in ballots. Previously, a voter had to demonstrate he was sick or would be out of town. As a result, only 34% of North Carolina’s ballots in 2016 were cast in person on Election Day. This hugely increases the opportunities for fraud.

MYRON PITTS: Racial issue adds to damage to GOP from alleged election fraud (Fayetteville Observer column) -- Analysis suggests minority voters were disproportionately affected by a scandal over absentee ballots

BRUCE HENDERSON & WILL DORAN: In 2 NC counties with ‘rough politics,’ election fraud claims are nothing new (Charlotte Observer reports) — Bladen calls itself the mother county of NC because in colonial times, it encompassed what is now more than half the state’s counties. These days it’s the mother of a growing elections fraud probe focused on the 9th District congressional race.

CULLEN BROWDER: Wake, Durham sheriffs move away from immigration programs (WRAL-TV reports) -- The Wake County Sheriff's Office no longer participates in a federal program in which local law enforcement agencies check the immigration status of people they've arrested.

LAURA LESLIE: Wake sheriff bars deputies from Fuquay bagel shop over racial slur (WRAL-TV reports) -- A racial slur recorded from an inadvertent phone call has prompted new Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker to prohibit his deputies from patronizing a Fuquay-Varina bagel shop.

RICHARD CRAVER: Altria invests $1.8B in cannabis company, discontinues e-cig products (Winston-Salem Journal reports) -- Altria Group Inc.’s strategy for transforming its tobacco assets took two remarkable turns. The owner of the largest U.S. tobacco manufacturer has invested $1.8 billion into a Canadian cannabis company. It also chose to discontinue its struggling electronic-cigarette products MarkTen and Green Smoke and oral nicotine product Verve.

CELIA RIVENBARK: Oh, to be a fly on a Conway wall (Wilmington Star-News column) -- As much as I enjoy reading liberal newspaper columnists and listening to the high-minded rants of TV’s progressive pundits, I must admit I enjoy, even more, lately, the lonely but persistent voices of true conservatives. Not the screechy, preachy “don’t take my gun” conservatives.

One year in, Vi Lyles has been the mayor Charlotte needed (Charlotte Observer) — Late last month, Vi Lyles stood before a packed room in uptown Charlotte and did the thing mayors love to do — welcome a big, new company to their city. As Lyles said the right things and thanked the right people about Honeywell’s relocation to Charlotte, two men near the front had something else to say — about her. “She’s graceful,” Republican N.C. Sen. Dan Bishop said. N.C. Rep. Andy Dulin, also a Republican, agreed.

JONATHAN WILSON-HARTGROVE: ICE’s war on Christmas (Durham-Herald Sun column) — The day after Thanksgiving, while many families were still enjoying their holiday together, Samuel Oliver-Bruno went with his wife, son, and fellow church members to an appointment at the U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services (USICS) office in Morrisviille.

EDUCATION

SUSAN SVRLUGA: ‘Silent Sam’ decision provokes loud response at UNC (Washington Post reports) -- Shock and anger continued to envelop UNC-Chapel Hill this week following a decision by school leaders to return a Confederate monument to campus.

DAVE DEWITT: Dozens Of UNC Faculty, Graduate Students Threaten To Withhold Grades In Silent Sam Protest (WUNC-FM reports) -- Dozens of faculty and graduate students at UNC Chapel Hill are threatening to withhold student grades and exam scores. It’s part of a protest over the university’s proposal to build a new, $5.3 million facility to house the Confederate statue known as Silent Sam.

CANDACE SWEAT: ‘We don't want it': Silent Sam discussion briefly interrupted by student protesters (WRAL-TV reports) – UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt and other university leaders met with the university's faculty council to discuss Silent Sam.

TAMMY GRUBB & JANE STANCILL: UNC faculty seek voice in Silent Sam’s future as teaching assistants’ strike grows (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — A faculty group called Friday for UNC leaders to drop a plan to keep the Silent Sam Confederate statue on campus and asked that a faculty committee be included in any future planning for the statue. The UNC Faculty Council also recommended, in a separate resolution, that the Faculty Council appoint a committee to weigh in on the statue’s future.

UNC ‘compromise’ fails Silent Sam’s fans and foes (Wilson Times) -- Wherever he’s been stowed away for safekeeping, Silent Sam is surely shaking his head. This week, the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees rubber-stamped Chancellor Carol Folt’s proposal to move the toppled Confederate soldier statue to a new $5.3 million history center where Sam would serve as the main attraction. Both supporters and opponents of the statue have valid grievances with Folt’s middling non-solution.

A reasonable proposal put forth on ‘Silent Sam’ (Wilmington Star-News) -- There is a big difference between a monument presented in a manner to recount history, and a monument presented in a manner that honors a cause.

TOMEKA SINCLAIR NC native converts 2 passions into job at Smithsonian (AP/The Robesonian reports) -- Not many people can say they work at their dream job. Ashley Deese, a 29-year-old Red Springs native, found hers at the Smithsonian Science Education Center and recently made the Forbes eighth annual "30 Under 30" list for her work for the center.

CULLEN BROWDER: Unfounded threat against Athens Drive High appears to be part of national hoax (WRAL-TV reports) -- The principal of Athens Drive High School in Raleigh said a threat called in to the school, which prompted a police response and lockdown that lasted about an hour Friday, appears to have been part of a national hoax.

N.C. school board orders takeover of 2nd failing school (AP reports) — The State Board of Education this week voted that Wayne County school leaders must turn over or shut down Carver Heights Elementary School starting next year. The rural, 3rd- through 5th-grade school could be run by a charter school operator, a university or community college, or a philanthropic organization.

MATT GOAD: Mandarin language debate dividing Chapel Hill elementary school. What could happen next (Durham-Herald Sun reports) — Glenwood Elementary is a school divided as it awaits its fate, where some students in the Mandarin dual-language program have been bullied, parents and teachers told the school board Thursday night.

TAFT WIREBACK: Mandating solar promises big rewards for N.C. (Greensboro News & Record reports) - -An environmental group says that if N.C. required all new houses to include rooftop solar panels, it could almost quadruple already impressive amounts of electricity the state draws from the sun. In addition, such a mandate could slash by 9 percent the state’s carbon emissions linked to power production, claims the report released this week by Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center.

ADAM WAGNER: Regan defends GenX order, says it could aid other lawsuits (Wilmington Star-News reports) -- The draft has received criticism since it was filed late on Thanksgiving Eve

Fisheries failure from Florence declared in N.C. (AP reports) -- The federal government has decided N.C.'s coastal fishing industry took enough of a hit from Hurricane Florence that it now may qualify for congressional aid.

NC governor declares state of emergency (AP reports) — Gov. Cooper issued the declaration Friday, hours after a news briefing in which he activated the National Guard. The emergency declaration allows movement of any resources needed to respond to the storm and orders that truck weight, size and hours of service restrictions be waived.

Columnist, reporters, editors among those leaving Pilot in wake of Tribune buyout offer (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot) -- Tribune Publishing has accepted buyout requests from 10 Virginian-Pilot newsroom employees as part of the latest round of staff reductions nationally by the Pilot's parent company. In the newsroom from the reporting staff, news columnist Roger Chesley, business reporter Robert McCabe and political reporter Bill Bartel agreed to the voluntary separation package and left the paper Friday.