Name: The Wrap @NCCapitol: Green Party approved for 2022 ballots, and what changes for election observers state officials are seeking?
Uploaded: 2022-08-12T13:49:30-0400
Duration: 1160664
Description: In this week's wrap, Bryan Anderson and Paul Specht discuss the Green Party's efforts to get on the 2022 ballot, potential new rules for election observers and a public spat between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.

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In this week's wrap, Bryan Anderson and Paul Specht discuss the Green Party's efforts to get on the 2022 ballot, potential new rules for election observers and a public spat between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.

Hello everyone and welcome to the Rap. I'm brian Anderson Wrl State government reporter. Hi. And I'm paul spay are politifact reporter who also covers state government. So we had quite a bit of news this week. One thing that seemed to maybe possibly come to an end is the seemingly endless Green Party saga. We had this fight to get on the ballot for people who are unfamiliar. There's a process where you have to go to a five member state board of elections and get their approval in order to qualify for a spot on the state ballot. That's what the Green Party tried to do for the november ballot. Initially, the state board of elections voted 32 against that request and then they decided earlier this month actually to allow that request to go forward. But the issue was really just can it happen in time for the 2022 midterms. The Green Party had this issue fought out in court and the court sided with the Green Party saying that they're allowed to have their name on the 2022 ballot. The north Carolina Democratic Party appealed that decision and the end result was that the Democratic appeal was denied. So as of now, things can always change. But it seems likely that the Green Party will be on the november ballot. And there's certainly been other election news Andy you've been writing about some of the latest battles. Tell us about some of these new rules that are coming out. Yeah, it certainly seems like the north Carolina state elections board is at the center of just a lot of the things that are happening, I don't know if it's controversy so much as um you know, we're gearing up for elections and there's a lot of attention on them from the Green Party's petition to just dealing with threats and abuse and trying to make life easier for the county boards. Now, what that means this week is that the State Elections board is proposing new rules for election observers and in many cases, maybe new rules isn't even the best description. Um they're trying to clarify what the law says. So election observers are typically appointed by political parties. They're allowed to be inside voting facilities, are allowed to walk around in certain designated areas. They're allowed to take notes there and then if they see something concerning, they're allowed to report that to the chief judge, who then obviously takes it from there to see if some rule or some law has been broken right. But what county election directors reported recently is that they had a lot of issues with uh these election observers this past midterm election in some cases. In many cases, a lot of it was just confusion from not these observers not knowing, you know what the rules are and what they're allowed to do, for instance, they're not allowed to speak. Actually, you're not allowed to talk to voters, you're not allowed to talk to precinct officials. They're only allowed to bring up concerns to the chief judge, But a lot of these observers that are showing up are, you know, they're they're talking to voters, they're they're they're not just well acquainted with the rules. And one reason for that is, election observers are not trained like other poll workers. Election observers are volunteers, that these political parties appoint, and in a lot of cases they come in just not knowing very much at all. Um and so we got our hands on the results of a on a survey that the state board sent out to these county directors, and the county directors responded back with some anecdotes about some things they've seen happen. Uh One thing that jumped out is a lot of these observers are getting too close to voting machines are positioning themselves in places that they're not allowed. Um In one case in Wayne County, an election observer was ejected because she would not move out of the way so that a voter could insert his ballot into the machine. And so where we're going to see some clarity is the law already says something to the effect of you're not allowed to stand where you can see someone's ballot, how they filled it out. Uh there's now a new proposed language that says you're not allowed to stand between a voter and the machine. Uh and that comes in direct response to that, that experience, that the Wayne County Elections Director reported. So The vote will be August 16 on some of those proposals and for more details on those. Uh people can read our story, it just went up today. Um and there obviously are more examples of the tweaks and clarifications on those rules for election observers. And these are administrative rule changes. This doesn't require state lawmakers to come back and act right Andy right. So, uh I'm glad you brought that up. These are temporary rule changes that they're proposing, and spokesman Pat Gannon said one reason for that is because they want them in place for the for the november elections. And so, um it's easier to get temporary rule changes in place uh than it is to get permanent changes in place. So they are just proposing these as temporary rule changes for this election, probably in hopes that they'll become long term. But a lot of these uh seem like common sense seems like um you know, they're just attempting to clarify and make things easier. Of course, in a public comment period that was held thursday. Some people called in and said, it seems a little muddy or last minute rule changes before an election. What are you doing? Right, right, or they say said that, you know, some of these things are still somewhat objective or subjective. Excuse me, they're worried that the chief judges might be more inclined to kick out someone they disagree with, but I'm sure those, those complaints or worries are not surprising to anyone. Well, there's one issue that won't be on the ballot for voters in november and that is congressman Madison cawthorn who lost his primary, but he's still making headlines, still generating attention. And it seems like, you know, every three months you roll out a new campaign finance report, generally speaking, and it will reveal how much debt you have, it'll reveal how much cash you have left, but we don't seem to know the latest with congressman cawthorn, do we? No. Um our colleague Laura Leslie has a story up on our website right now and basically what happened was uh Madison cawthorn was supposed to submit his campaign finance report by the end of july and he didn't, and then by august 10th, which is when our story went up, they still didn't have it. And so uh people are wondering, well, you know, he had this election, he lost, he had some money, what's he, what's he using it for? You know, these aren't days delays, these are weeks and weeks long delays here. Very, very abnormal. Right? And one thing that I think made this a little, probably a little more newsworthy is not just that he missed the deadline is that when asked about it, he seemed unavailable and social media posts from him show him on vacation, uh jet skiing and drinking what looked to be expensive cocktails and playing war games, even there's a video of him, you know, in some sort of simulation, it's a game, but he's out having fun. And um one could certainly get the impression from the story and his social media post that he seems like he's checked out. You know, he's with this report being late and him being on vacation. So that's that's the latest. Well, certainly we're always, you know, looking, we're looking at everyone's campaign finance reports, we should clarify, we're not picking on him, we're always looking for these. It just so happened that he is one big name that did not report. Yeah. And certainly there's questions from his campaign spending in the primary. He was huge, prolific fundraiser since really being elected, raising hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and spending it seemingly just as quickly as he got it. If not spending more than he was was taking on. And it seems like there's some concerns over debt obligations versus outstanding cash, but just the extent to it we don't know. And I think that's what is newsworthy and what people should care about is where your campaign money is going to and whether it's been spent overboard is certainly something to keep an eye on. One thing that uh we've also been tracking for the campaign cycle is bo Heinz he's running in this new 13th congressional district just outside the Raleigh area covers Southern Wake County also, all of johnston County. Uh those are some of the nearby places and it is uh supposed to be the closest race this election cycle at the U. S. House level uh behind as a political newcomer seeking uh win for the Republican Party and he's running against uh state Senate Wiley Nickel and Nickel lives in Kerry. Uh you've had both kinds being accused of being a carpetbagger who's new to the district. He did go to n. c. state and voted I think in the district in 2012 or so. But really this is gonna be a race to watch. And one boost that Heinz just got was from Republican minority Leader Kevin McCarthy who came to town for a fundraiser. And Kevin McCarthy's obviously been very closely aligned with former President donald trump and Bowie Heinz has the endorsement of trump and as we are seeing trump in the headlines more and more. It's going to be interesting to see what involvement trump has in this race and what the turnout is going to be. I mean this is certainly a race to watch isn't it? Yeah. And you touched on something there um you know Heinz sort of needs the backing of the establishment whatever that is these days. It's hard to tell. But McCarthy is someone who certainly lends credibility to hide to like like you mentioned came in as a newcomer defeated some people in the district who have been there awhile served in lower offices. So but yeah he's endorsed by McCarthy. He's endorsed by trump. I think he also got help from club for growth financial help. That is so it'll be interesting to see just what his reputation is come election time. Obviously he gets a lot of his pedigree from those people we just mentioned. Um And so what whatever happens with trump could potentially help him stay on him, Who knows? But I know like you said for his campaign, big names like McCarthy coming down to, you know, give him support. It certainly helps. Yeah. And I I came from California originally where kevin McCarthy is and he's a very powerful force in California politics and he wants to be house speaker. And in order to become house speaker, you need to retake control of the U. S. House if you're the Republican. So hopefully for McCarthy, he might be leaning on hinds down the road to try and become speaker. So there's there's certainly some mutual benefit to that relationship as well. One of the biggest policy issues in that race is going to be abortion. That is one that is an animating issue here for for voters. And both parties are hoping it will draw Supporters from their respective sides and this issue of abortion in the coming days weeks, we could see a ruling over this 20 week abortion ban and that's a ban on pregnancies after 20 weeks uh a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. And that's currently the law of the land in north Carolina. But the issue is it isn't enforced and that's because the law was halted from being implemented last year. And with the Dobbs decision that overturned roe v wade, it's back before the courts, interestingly, the attorney general is not defending the law and he's come under some criticism for that as well. Yeah, we'll certainly see when that decision does come down. People see a lot of headlines about it because it's been a long anticipated just to see like how this will play out and on the public opinion polling side of things. It's worth noting. We had a WRL news poll recently and it found that 55% of I think adults in north Carolina supported This 20 week abortion ban. But a lot of people also said they favor the law is being kept where they are. Uh and it's certainly a divisive issue that draws passionate views. But the attorney general has come under criticism for something else as well. And that is this 2020 ad, uh, that his campaign had run. Tell us about that. Yeah, I have not written about this, um, specifically, but this I'll try to give you the, it's a little in the weeds. But in that race, josh stein had an ad that sort of accused Jim O'Neil, his republican opponent of not doing enough with rape kits are to clear rape kits in his jurisdiction. Jim O'neill was a District Attorney O'Neill thought that it was unfair and blatantly false. And there is an old law in North Carolina that dates back to I think the 1930s, that's a century old. Yes, that says that it is illegal to say something about someone that is knowingly false. Um and so he filed a complaint with the state elections board board, the state elections board we learned yesterday. Thanks to Nick Ochsner, he's a reporter for, I think it's W. B. T. V. Had a report that the elections board didn't as part of their process. They look into things like this and then they either recommend charges or they don't recommend charges in this case. They did not recommend charges when they sent the case over to Lorrin Freeman, the Wake County District Attorney Wake County, uh Wake County's District Attorney Freeman is a democrat. Um and so it came to the surprise of a lot of people when um Nick Ochsner again was the first to report that she was going to take this case I believe before a grand jury and say right away. Um and if I remember that the actually the law on the books is a misdemeanor, I don't believe it's even a felony. And so um obviously in the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, I've talked to people who think it's just funny to see. Um, and the democrats are wondering, you know, what the heck is going on. You know, two people, uh, you know in conflict with the local attorney district attorney going after the attorney general. That is not something you see every day. I mean, there is a slippery slope if you talk about deception and adds, I mean, where do you draw the line? We're going to be seeing dozens and dozens of lawsuits on any given particular cycles is sort of the flip side that they're trying to say as well here. Exactly. And they said that they wonder if this law is even enforceable, you know, given the First Amendment freedom of speech and things like that. Um, and you know, how like you said, how far do you take it? How many ads are we going to see, you know, brought before local district attorneys and then, you know, push, you know, enter and for prosecution. Um, it's certainly a unique case that's left. A lot of people speculating that there might be personal grudges involved and things like that. So we're waiting to see that play out as well. We'll certainly continue to monitor that. And a number of other items that we, we can expect in the coming weeks. Anything I didn't mention anything we need to leave the folks with, oh, gosh. Um, you know, that's about it. We saw Roy Cooper tweet something about Thom Tillis not serving the, his constituents well enough based that on one of his votes this week. And people speculated like, you know, it's not every day that you see the governor tweet about the senator. You know, we've seen Cooper come out and say, uh, sort of denounced things that the lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, Republican Mark Robinson has said. But we don't often see cooper come out and say things about the U. S. Senators. Um, especially tell us is is a potential cross party vote on lots and lots of things. We saw the infrastructure bill. Uh, and you know, tell us his complaint was, you know, there's too much unrelated spending beyond the burn pits over by camp Lejeune. And that that's his chief concern that that he had articulated. But you know, there's insulin costs, there's a number of other things that Cooper has taken exception to. I think it's just a little bit unusual to see him do that so publicly. Right. And people forget that even during the 20 when the pandemic hit in 2020, um, you know, a lot of people were criticizing the governor for some of his emergency declaration rules. And tell us was someone who was not among his most vocal critics. In fact, if I remember correctly, I read some quotes from Tillis at the time saying he thought Cooper had done a pretty decent job. Um, and that certainly said, tell us apart from other republicans at the time, but I guess that's all ancient two years is ancient history these days. We are back them going after each other. And people speculating, hey, maybe this is, you know, Cooper just getting warmed up for a Senate race in 2026. Who knows? I'm sure the next few months will feel like slow moving history as we get closer and closer to election day. But I think we'll call it there and keep you updated n. capital.com for all the latest news. Until next time. We'll keep you updated there on our website. And this has been the wrap.

Paul Specht

Bryan Anderson

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I'm meteorologist K Campbell in the wr a severe weather center starting a new week on Monday. So here's what to expect as you gear up for the new week. Rain chances will be climbing, especially Tuesday and Wednesday. We are going to get a nice little break from the heat this week. So enjoy the spring like weather while it's here with us no more nineties on our seven day forecast, I would say the best days to be out and about do anything outside look like they're gonna be on Monday and Thursday of this week. So here's this set up. We've got a lot of moisture and rain falling in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas. Right now, we're going to see all the moisture from this system and some of the energy make it to North Carolina starting Monday night, Monday during the day, things should be dry. We've got this area of high pressure overhead but we will begin to see an increase in cloud cover throughout the day. And then late Monday night, we'll see a warm front lift through the area that could generate some spotty light showers overnight into Tuesday. And then during the day. Tuesday, we've got more lift in the atmosphere. It's a cloudy day, a much cooler day and we should see rain on and off throughout the day. But rain is likely you'll at least get a period of rain. Tuesday. More than likely it's, there should still be some breaks in the rain at least. And then some thunderstorms could be mixed in as well. This is as far out as that high resolution model goes right now, but we've got a nice break from the heat coming our way. 79 is our normal high. This time of year, we're going to be near or slightly above normal most days. The exception is Tuesday with the highest rain chances, temperatures will be a little cooler just 73 for the high tonight. It's a cool night, really, comfortably cool. Enjoy it while you can. It's probably one of our last ones of the season. Upper forties to lower fifties across the area tonight. 50 Raleigh 49 in Rocky Mount. And for your Monday forecasts, ties are in the upper seventies for Roxboro and South Hill. 81. The high in Durham, Raleigh Rocky Mountain, Southern Pines, 82 degrees in Fayetteville and Goldsboro. Your seven day forecast looking pretty nice. But we've got rain chances coming our way Tuesday and we'll see some scattered storms on Wednesday as well. It's about a 60% chance Wednesday, but an 80% chance Tuesday, Thursday, rain chances are lower at just 20%. 82 degrees and partly cloudy Friday late in the day into Saturday, we could see some scattered storms move in. Not looking like a washout though. It does look like we'll have a drier into next weekend. 84 partly cloudy next Sunday.

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The Wrap @NCCapitol: Green Party approved for 2022 ballots, and what changes for election observers state officials are seeking?

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