Editorial: A guide to vote for a better N.C.

CBC Editorial: Wednesday, April 20, 2022; Editorial #8754
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

Anyone who wants to vote in North Carolina’s upcoming primary elections must be registered by Friday.

It’s easy. Those who are eligible and have a North Carolina drivers license or state-issued I.D. can do it all online. Just go to the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles’ Voter Registration Application website here or call the State Board of Elections at (919) 814-0700.

Being registered to vote in the May 17 primary is only the start. Next – even before the MOST IMPORTANT task of actually casting a ballot (by mail, through early in-person voting or voting on Election Day) – is being a fully informed voter.

More than knowing who the candidates are, is knowing where they stand on the critical issues. The state Board of Elections provides a guide to candidates for the state Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court. It is available online here.

North Carolina is at a critical time. Statewide and legislative office holders, over the next two years, will be making critical decisions concerning the quality of schools our children attend; whether every voter will have a real voice when picking members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the General Assembly; if all those now lacking access to health care will be able to receive it; how accountable private schools will be to show that students supported with taxpayer-funded vouchers are learning; and state and local public agencies are able to find cost-effective financing to make critical infrastructure improvements and expansions.

Vote for candidates who agree to:

• Support the consensus comprehensive remedial plan developed by the plaintiffs and defendants in the Leandro case to make great strides in fulfilling the state’s Constitutional guarantee of access to a quality education for every child. Back candidates who agree legislators should obey the state Constitution and show adherence to their oath of office to enact and fully-fund the plan.
• Reform North Carolina election laws to adopt non-partisan criteria for drawing congressional and legislative election district lines and enact a non-partisan system to do it. Since the late 1970s the legislature – whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans – has developed voting maps that courts have repeatedly found to be unconstitutional for discriminating against minority voters. “The General Assembly deployed this intent with surgical precision to carefully craft maps that grouped many voters into districts predominantly based upon partisan criteria by packing and cracking Democratic voters to dilute their collective voting strength, thereby creating partisan gerrymandered legislative maps,” was how a now-famous 2019 state court decision described the current state of affairs. It must end to give all voters – regardless of political affiliation – the full voice they are entitled to in a truly representative government.
• Expand Medicaid to the nearly 650,000 North Carolina citizens who are denied health care just because some legislators don’t like former President Barack Obama. The lack of access showed itself to be particularly acute during the COVID-19 pandemic as too many weren’t able to access the health care they needed until it became too late.
• Provide the resources our state’s prisons and local jails need to be properly staffed and outfitted with appropriate up-to-date technology so these facilities are safe and secure – both for those who work in them and those who are incarcerated.
• Pass major bond issues – now before interest rates increase and are less affordable. Delay would be irresponsible and require paying higher interest payments that, had legislators already acted, would have saved taxpayers millions. This borrowing is prudent that will create jobs and inject needed capital into the state's economy. Voters should be offered at least: $2 billion for K-12 public schools; $500 million each for community colleges and University of North Carolina System facilities; $800 million to help local water and sewer projects; and $100 million for historic, cultural and other state facilities.

While these primaries are partisan affairs, these issues aren’t. Voters need to pick the candidates who make North Carolina – not political affiliation – their top priority.