Supporters of public campaign financing have long claimed that it would never have a partisan slant. But the latest Civitas investigation has found how one liberal activist has taken control of the process. In the first article of this series, we revealed the disturbing relationship Bob Hall, a liberal lobbyist for Democracy NC, has with [...]
Anyone that has brought a challenge before a local board of elections knows that it is not a simple or easy process. In order to challenge a voter in North Carolina, the challenge can only be made if the challenger “knows, suspects or reasonably believes” a person is not “qualified and entitled to vote.” (NCGS [...]
Senate Bill 666 “Election Law Changes” may include one or two laudable suggestions (namely the elimination of Same Day Registration), but in trying to reinforce voter registration rules for college students, the legislation stumbles into other problems. Now before the North Carolina General Assembly, SB 666 would prohibit state income tax dependency deductions for qualifying [...]
This week’s “Bad Bill of the Week” is House Bill 188, Early Voting on Weekends. It is sponsored by Representatives Jean Farmer-Butterfield (D-Pitt) and Garland Pierce (D-Hoke) and goes a long way to expose the apparent “one-size fits all” attitude of so many elected politicians. HB 188 seeks to require all 100 counties to conduct [...]
Senator Eleanor Kinnaird (D-Orange) is the lone sponsor of this week’s Bad Bill of the Week – SB 155, The Hamilton C. Horton Jr. Independent Redistricting Commission. Senator Kinnaird sponsored a similar bill last year with the same name. While Civitas remembers the late Senator Horton fondly, we are skeptical of all “non-partisan” or “independent” [...]
In a blatantly partisan move, the staff of the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) successfully subverted state law to facilitate online voter registration in North Carolina by the 2012 Barack Obama campaign. In doing so they coordinated with partisans behind closed doors, lied about the NC Attorney General’s Office concurring with the SBE [...]
A new Civitas Institute study has confirmed what critics have been saying for years: North Carolina’s Same Day and Last-Minute Voter Registration processes are seriously flawed. In July 2007, the North Carolina Legislature passed House Bill 91, (Registration and Voting at One-Stop Sites). The law allowed voters to register and vote during a one-stop early [...]
NC Vote Tracker is back for the 2012 General Election! Vote Tracker is the user-friendly database at the Civitas Institute’s Carolina Transparency website (www.carolinatransparency.com/votetracker/) that helps us all wade through early voting numbers. The data comes straight from the State Board of Elections (SBOE) website, where it is refreshed each morning with the previous day’s [...]
There was little hope when the 2012 short session opened that the State House would gain the Democratic votes needed to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the voter photo ID bill – HB 351 – that originally passed both chambers in 2011. HB 351 requires voters to present valid photo identification in order to [...]
Republican leaders are determined to pass a voter ID bill this session and they say their resolve is fueled by promises they made to voters during the 2010 election. Unfortunately, these leaders believe that a bad bill is better than no bill and will offer a compromise to HB 351 (Restore Confidence in Government), the [...]