Democracy North Carolina Blog

LOD: Youth Alert

Bob Hall — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:25:53 +0000

A father in coastal Carteret County writes about his daughter’s hectic week of a senior prom, body piercing, and first time voting – a glimpse into the promising world ahead for us and the value of good parenting. Tucked inside Brad Rich’s story is something else, too: His daughter, Summer, was handed the wrong ballot when she went to vote on May 8th – but fortunately she spoke up and made the precinct official correct the mistake. How many others were given the wrong ballot, one designed for 17 year olds that lacked the so-called marriage amendment? If you or someone you know experienced that problem, please call 888-OUR-VOTE.

LOD: Lies and Damnable Lies

Bob Hall — Sat, 12 May 2012 14:13:29 +0000

Two national stories with NC connections: One, from the Los Angeles Times, dissects the damnable lies spewed forth in political advertisements sponsored by Americans for Prosperity. It’s not an accident that the deceitful ads attack alternative energy production as well as President Obama; the biggest backers of AFP are oil and gas mega-billionaires David and Charles Koch who don’t like competition from “green” alternatives or the implications of global warming for their industry. One of AFP’s four directors (and a major AFP donor) is Raleigh’s Art Pope, head of the Roses and Maxway chain of department stores. The tax-exempt, “social welfare” organization plans to spend $151 million during the 2012 election on this kind of “educational” ad, but the real source of that money is unknown. The article points out that Obama aims to ramp up his attack ads, too, but in that case you at least know who to hold accountable when you vote. The second story, from National Public Radio, profiles a series of meetings that ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is holding in Charlotte, bringing together top corporate lobbyists with state legislators across the nation to craft model legislation aimed at maximizing private profits and weakening government’s role in protecting the public’s health and welfare. The example NPR uses in its story is a bill to undercut a state attorney general’s ability to sue a utility company (a regulated monopoly) for gouging its customers. The Koch brothers and their corporations are heavy backers of ALEC as well.

LOD: Your Eyes & Ears Today

Bob Hall — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:58:59 +0000

Consider yourself deputized as an on-the-ground “voter protection” advocate in today’s primary election! You can help prevent confusion and mistakes at the polls that could cost people their vote. There are four ways to protect yourself and others:

1. Be prepared. Preview your ballot before you vote by clicking here. Use the same link to find your polling place and a guide to the candidates. Also, by seeing which candidates should appear on your ballot, you’ll know there’s a problem if you get a different ballot at the polls.

2. Report problems. If you get the wrong ballot, have a question or experience any problem when you vote, call this hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683). Please pass the Election Protection Hotline on to others via Facebook, etc.

3. Oppose trickery. I recommend you Vote AGAINST the so-called “marriage amendment.” It’s not really about marriage because it redefines “domestic unions” in a way that affects all unwed couples, straight or gay, their children, visitation and custody rights, insurance, domestic violence protection, and more. The language is too tricky to put in the Constitution.

4. Give the sign. Print out the Election Protection sign at this link and give it to a volunteer handing out materials outside the polling place; encourage them to attach it to their table or keep the number in case their supporters have problems. The 866-OUR-VOTE Hotline is staffed all day on May 8 by a public service program at UNC-CH Law School.

Call the Hotline and let folks know about confusion or problems where you vote. Voting is a wonderful gift and a fundamental right; use it and protect it – or we’ll lose it. Thank you!

LOD: Early Voting Hits Record

Bob Hall — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:56:43 +0000

The State Board of Elections posted a database of voters participating in One-Stop Early Voting. Here are some observations about who voted during the Early Voting phase of the 2012 primary election. See data for all 100 counties on this spread-sheet: http://www.democracy-nc.org/downloads/EarlyVoteRegisTurnoutPrim2012.xls

● One-Stop Early Voting ended Saturday, May 5^th, with a record turnout of North Carolina voters – 490,540 ballots were accepted by the end of the day or about 4% more than the 473,800 cast during the 2008 primary. (Excludes cancelled, spoiled or duplicate ballots.)

● This number only includes ballots cast at the Early Voting sites – technically called “in-person absentee ballots.” An additional 16,600 absentee ballots were received by Saturday through the mail, etc., bringing the total absentee ballots cast thus far to over 500,000. More mail-in absentee ballots are expected.

● Democrats and Republicans essentially matched each other in turnout rates – 8.2% of registered Democrats and 8.3% of registered Republicans used One-Stop Early Voting to participate in the 2012 primary. Libertarian and Unaffiliated voters had lower turnout rates.

● 8.6% of white registered voters and 5.6% of black registered voters used One-Stop Early Voting; women outperformed men, with an 8.0% versus 7.6% turnout rate.

● The top 10 counties for turnout of their registered voters are Alleghany, Transylvania, Mitchell, Chatham, Bladen, Orange, Alexander, Watauga, Durham and Caldwell, with turnout rates reaching 17% of registered voters.

● The 7 counties with the highest number of ballots cast during One-Stop Early Voting provided about 36% of the total cast; they are in order: Wake, Mecklenburg, Durham, Guilford, Buncombe, Orange, and Forsyth. All are strong Democratic counties – but several had turnout rates below the 7.8% state average.

● The 9 counties with the biggest percent increase in One-Stop Early Voting over the 2008 primary are: Mitchell, Alexander, Stokes, Davie, Gaston, Randolph, Caldwell, Burke, and Ashe. All are strong Republican counties.

● Of the 100,000 Unaffiliated voters who participated in One-Stop Early Voting, 45% chose to cast a ballot in the Republican primary, 35% cast a Democratic ballot, and 20% cast Unaffiliated ballots.

● Voters over age 65 outnumbered voters 25 and younger by more than 5 to 1 (167,600 to 28,000). While more NC voters are registered as Democrats, a GOP tilt among the older and Unaffiliated primary voters narrowed the partisan gap: Of the 490,540 voters, 260,260 cast Democratic ballots; 209,430 Republican; 19,350 Unaffiliated; and 1,500 Libertarian ballots.

LOD: Wal-Mart Way of Business

Bob Hall — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:48:12 +0000

Wal-Mart is in the middle of a scandal involving allegations of massive bribery in Mexico – and the company is depending on the goodwill built through its generous donations to Congressional leaders of both parties to weather the storm; in other words, it’s using another form of bribery that has become standard practice for major businesses, especially as they undergo more scrutiny for abusing their power. Wal-Mart has been the target of numerous complaints over the years as it has enriched the heirs of founder Sam Walton – several are now among the 10 richest individuals in the United States. Earlier this week, the company agreed to pay nearly $5 million in back pay and damages to thousands of workers it had cheated out of overtime pay. That amount pales next to the more than $600 million Wal-Mart agreed to pay to settle dozens of labor-related cases in 2008. Apparently it learned the wrong lesson from that experience, i.e., cheating is cheaper than doing the right thing. Would its owners be so recalcitrant if they couldn’t use protection money to bribe the system in their favor? They are already spending big-time in the 2012 election so they never have to find out.

LOD: Voter Confusion Index

Bob Hall — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:36:28 +0000

Democracy North Carolina today released a “Voter Confusion Index” that ranks the counties suffering the most complex changes as a result of redistricting. Most voters will go to the same precinct polling site where they voted in 2010, but their ballots will now have a different set of General Assembly and Congressional candidates because of district changes. Cumberland, Wayne, Durham, Pitt, and Pasquotank counties lead the list because they not only have new legislative and Congressional districts but the boundary lines for these districts slice through a large portion of the county’s precincts. That means neighbors going to the same precinct polling location will receive different ballots with a different set of candidates. The potential for confusion and poll-worker error increases with more split precincts and district changes – although mistakes, thankfully rare, can happen anywhere. More than twice as many precincts were split by the Republican redistricting plans than by any previous NC plan in history. The county-by-county chart for the Voter Confusion Index shows that only 15 of the state’s 100 counties survived the redistricting process with no precincts divided and no changes in their General Assembly or Congressional districts. Most of the 15 counties have heavily white populations and are in western NC or along the coast.

LOD: Ask the Moms

Bob Hall — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:26:53 +0000

Hey, check out this blog posting from Beth Messersmith of MomsRising. Maybe it will bring back fond memories or introduce you to timely resources for this election – plus, it describes a kids/family friendly event this Saturday. Another mother called Democracy NC today to let us know she was given the wrong ballot by the election official when she went to vote. She only knew it was the wrong one because she had previewed her ballot on line. Smart move! You can do that, too – follow the simple instruction on this link. And call our hotline if you have any problem when you vote. Call either 888-OUR-VOTE or 866-OUR-VOTE.

Election Alert: Preview Your Ballot Before Voting!

Leigh Bradley — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:16:24 +0000

You may be surprised by the names you see on the ballot in this election – especially if you’re among the millions of North Carolina voters with new General Assembly and Congressional districts.

You may even get the wrong ballot – but how will you know!?!

Be prepared – preview YOUR ballot before you vote; learn how at NCElectionConnection.com. You can also call this toll-free Hotline with your questions OR if you have any problem when you vote: 866-OUR-VOTE. That’s 866-687-8683.

And help us spread the word!

LOD: Sick for Justice

Bob Hall — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:00:13 +0000

The multi-part series in the News & Observer about NC hospitals will make you sick. Today’s part adds the money-in-politics dimension to the profile of heartless institutions with unbelievable profit margins, hiding behind the respectable shield of non-profit charitable service. Rep. Dale Folwell, the Republican House Speaker Pro-Tem, says his effort to cap a sales tax windfall for hospitals went nowhere fast last year. “The reason this bill never got a hearing is because big money bottled it up,” he said. Today’s paper also includes an op-ed on the dangers of turning the health-care management of prison inmates over to for-profit corporations that use political corruption wherever they go to turn state resources into enormous private gain. Not that North Carolina’s non-profit hospitals do much better with prison care; the N&O shows they routinely charge the state three times their actual costs to treat sick inmates. Sure seems like a crime, but who will threaten these smiling hospital managers with a prison term?

LOD: Petition the Government

Bob Hall — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:16:37 +0000

Here are an NBC-17 video report and the Associated Press news article about the rally today by Democracy North Carolina, other organizations and grassroots leaders protesting the “Out of Control” General Assembly. After the rally, people moved inside the legislative building and presented a petition against voter suppression to the legislative leadership. The petition included more than 4,000 names gathered in 10 days against the government-photo ID bill and other legislation that would make voting harder. Additional concerns raised at the rally included the gutting of workplace and grievance protections for university employees, the shift in financing public education from taxes on corporations to higher fees on students, and the many dangers of proposals to legalize hydraulic fracking in North Carolina.

LOD: Justice Over Bias

Bob Hall — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:53:46 +0000

In a historic decision today, Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks found that prosecutors deliberately excluded qualified black jurors from serving on the jury in the case of death row inmate Marcus Robinson. The hearing was the first to apply North Carolina’s landmark Racial Justice Act. Following the law’s directives, the judge resentenced Robinson to life without the possibility of parole because unrefuted evidence showed that racial discrimination infected Robinson’s prosecution, consistent with a broader statistical pattern of racial bias in jury selection across the state. “The evidence should serve as a clear signal of the need for reform in capital jury selection proceedings in the future,” said the Cumberland County judge. “The very integrity of the court is jeopardized when a prosecutor’s discrimination invites cynicism respecting the jury’s neutrality and undermines public confidence.” The 167-page decision is here. The decision offers hope that a broken system at the heart of a democratic society can be rebuilt to treat everyone fairly.

LOD: Voter, Be Prepared

Bob Hall — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:39:09 +0000

Early voting for the primary has begun – and so has the confusion caused by the new district maps drawn up after redistricting. Many voters have been placed in new districts, and about two million voters live in hundreds of precincts that are divided between two different state House, state Senate or Congressional districts. That means they will receive a different ballot from many of their neighbors who vote at the same precinct. You will likely see a lot of strange names on your ballot – you may even be given the wrong ballot. Be prepared – remember this toll-free Hotline if you have a problem when you vote: 866-OUR-VOTE. And use this website to review your ballot before voting: NCElectionConnection.com. The website also lists the Early Voting sites in all 100 counties and answers a host of other questions. For more information about the hotline and website, see this release.

LOD: Tax Dodgers

Bob Hall — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:28:17 +0000

Robert Reich, economist and chairman of Common Cause, has a two-minute video that shows how top corporations use their profits to manipulate the political system to reap more tax breaks and the lion’s share of productivity gains over the past several decades; Reich connects a lot of dots in 135 seconds. His themes are fleshed out in a succinct essay by Paul Buchheit on “five reasons why the very rich have not earned their money.” With Tax Day here, it’s worth recognizing that the maze of tax laws lets corporations like Duke Energy and Wells Fargo pay Zero federal taxes. US PIRG analyzes one giant tax distortion that costs the rest of us $100 billion a year: the offshore tax havens enjoyed by eBay, Wells Fargo and others.

LOD: Participatory Democracy

Bob Hall — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 02:29:49 +0000

Video: Fifty years of “participatory democracy” – from 1962 to 2012, from the Freedom Movement to Occupy Wall Street – as told by SDS co-founder Tom Hayden in a video interview today with Democracy Now. Hayden was the principal author of the “Port Huron Statement,” the 1962 manifesto of the white student movement; his cover article in this week’s Nation magazine bridges the decades to reaffirm the meaning and power of participatory democracy.

LOD: Contributing to Reform

Bob Hall — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:59:27 +0000

A group of well-heeled New Yorkers are pushing the governor and legislators in that state to adopt a comprehensive public campaign financing program that parallels the successful one used in New York City’s elections. The group includes hefty political donors affiliated with both major parties. According to the New York Times, “Coalition leaders said they were prepared to spend more than $1 million promoting public financing, but they acknowledged that it could take beyond this legislative session to persuade lawmakers to embrace their proposal.” Meanwhile, a different kind of effort is underway nationally to convince political donors to divert most of their campaign contributions toward nonprofit charities. The donors would pair up across party lines and offset each other contributions, with the money going to the charity rather than the candidate. Sound far-fetched? Read the full report in the Washington Post.