Editorial: Find ways to ease voting, not restrict it
CBC Editorial: Friday, April 9, 2021; Editorial #8657
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.
State Sen. Paul Newton may have tried to talk a good game in the Senate Election Committee saying Senate Bill 326, “The Elections Integrity Act” was nothing more than an effort to “shore up ... leakage around the edges of our system.”
But numbers tell the story. The leakage he and his fellow Republicans are concerned about has nothing to do with election integrity but everything to do with helping GOP candidates.
Both nationally, and particularly in North Carolina, voting in the 2020 elections was conducted fairly, openly and with few problems under the most challenging of circumstances. Election turnout – both in total voters and share of eligible voters – was the most ever. Every properly cast ballot was collected and counted accurately.
What happened in 2020 – while based on the state results in particular – should have left Republicans with no complaints. But there obviously was concern that mail-in ballots didn’t tilt far enough toward the GOP.
The mail-in ballot share of all votes cast skyrocketed to 18%. Part pandemic related but also many voters found it a more convenient.
While, for example in the race for president, the Republican candidate (former President Donald Trump) won big in votes cast on Election Day (65%) and by a good margin in in-person early voting (52%), the Democratic candidate (President Joe Biden) crushed (67%) the GOP in the absentee mail-in voting.
So their goal now is to make it harder for folks to vote by mail and, at least as things showed in the 2020 election results, tilt things to up the chance GOP candidates will do better.
Here are the numbers, from the N.C. Board of Elections:
RESULTS – 2020 VOTE FOR PRESIDENT
| CHOICE | TOTAL VOTES | ELECTION DAY | ABSENTEE ONE-STOP | ABSENTEE BY-MAIL | PROVISIONAL |
| Donald Trump(R) | 2,758,775(49.9%) | 581,189(65%) | 1,890,765(52%) | 277,862(28%) | 8,959 |
| Joseph Biden (D) | 2,684,292(48.6%) | 292,173(33%) | 1,685,558(47%) | 699,774(67%) | 6,787 |
| Jo Jorgensen | 48,678(0.88%) | 13,854 | 25,069 | 9,529 | 226 |
| Write-in (Misc) | 13,196(0.24%) | 3,403 | 6,374 | 3,366 | 53 |
| Howie Hawkins | 12,195(0.22%) | 3,014 | 6,158 | 2,953 | 70 |
| Don Blakenship | 7,549(0.14%) | 1,845 | 4,040 | 1,628 | 36 |
| Jade Simmons | 119 | 19 | 77 | 23 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 5,524,804 | 895,497 | 3,618,041 | 995,135 | 16,131 |
Voting Method in Presidential Election Years: 2008-2020
| ELECTION | BY-MAIL | ONE-STOP EARLY | ELECTION DAY IN-PERSON | PROVISIONAL |
| 2020 GEN | 18% | 65% | 16% | <1% |
| 2016 GEN | 4% | 62% | 33% | <1% |
| 2012 GEN | 5% | 56% | 38% | <1% |
| 2008 GEN | 5% | 55.5% | 38.5% | <1% |
Legislative Republicans were upset – and have tried to make a partisan issue of the legally and appropriately-reached pre-election settlements to lawsuits that challenged some of the rules and deadlines for different ways of voting.
The reality is that the rule eventually adopted in the settlement – details of which were fully disclosed -- were within ways the board was already operating. Mail-in ballots must have been postmarked on or before Election Day and received by 5 p.m. Nov. 14. The calculation for receipt of mail-in ballots to be counted was taken from the deadline already in place for receipt of ballots cast by those in the military services or those overseas.
This needless “Elections Integrity Act” bill demands mail-in ballots not only be cast by Election Day, but if mailed, must be RECEIVED no later than Election Day. It is a change that is not necessary, won’t make elections any more secure and simply erects another unnecessary impediment to casting a fair ballot and getting it counted.
There was no problem to be fixed. Things worked better than ever! The quest should be for ways to get MORE people to vote and get MORE properly cast ballots counted. A legal vote legally cast on or before Election Day (including placed in the mail) should be counted. The current practice for receipt of mail-in ballots is basic common sense.
To seek a political advantage, regardless of whether done to help Democrats or Republicans, under the guise that appointed elections officials or staff professionals acted improperly is disingenuous at best.
It is particularly unfair and inappropriate given the outstanding performance of state and local elections officials, professionals and volunteers last year. They could not have taken on a tougher assignment, faced more difficulties both in their task and even risks to their own health to make sure, regardless of partisan affiliation or ability to get to a polling place, voting was easy and accessible.
Our election workers deserve universal and unequivocal praise and gratitude, not laws seeking to manipulate the behavior of those who vote.
NOTE: State Board of Elections Chairman Damon Circosta is executive director of the A.J Fletcher Foundation. James Goodmon, chairman and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company is the chairman of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation.
