Watch what NC politicians are doing to our elections, not what they’re saying about them

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

When people who actually care about free and fair elections called the wave of election law changes in North Carolina voter suppression, conservatives and election deniers clutched their proverbial pearls and cried that they were being unfairly attacked. They said making same day registration more difficult, requiring an ID to cast a ballot, complicating mail-in voting, and eliminating polling places was necessary to protect fair elections. They said these measures were “safeguards” to protect the integrity of our elections, and not a blatant attempt to suppress Black and marginalized voters. That is what they said.

What they are doing right now, however, illustrates that their actual motives had nothing to do with election integrity and everything to do with eroding the political power of the people and democracy.

The same people who claim to care about election integrity are viciously attacking the State Board of Elections for trying to ensure that every party on the ballot is legitimate. What could be more central to election integrity than ensuring every name on the ballot was legitimately chosen by the people? How can one profess to care about elections, but protest when legal administrative measures are taken to protect the integrity of the ballot? The simple answer is – one cannot. Watch what they DO.

North Carolina is going into one of the most controversial and polarized elections in our lifetime with a shortage of local election directors. In the last five years, 61 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have seen turnover of local election directors. These folks are central to the administration of fair elections in North Carolina because they manage the entire election process from staffing polls to certifying results.

The reason we are losing so much institutional knowledge about proper elections is because the North Carolina General Assembly refuses to allocate enough money to fully fund, and pay, election worker positions. Per statute, the directors are to be paid no less than $12 per hour – about the same as a neighborhood babysitter. Without proper funding, many localities are unable to pay much more.

There is no role more important and central to ensuring the integrity of elections, but no outcry from the folks who say they are so committed to fair elections? No emergency action from the General Assembly to allocate some of the $1 BILLION (yes, billion with a B) surplus this great state is sitting on to make sure election administration has the financial resources needed to protect the “integrity” of elections? Watch what they DO.

Our elected officials who SAY they care about integrity in elections do not DO what it takes to ensure elections are fair and free of obstructions with the potential to make a mockery of our democratic process. These self-proclaimed election integrity zealots do not want clean elections. They want to take power from the people and consolidate it in the hands of a few.

Watch what they DO and not what they SAY.

The post Watch what NC politicians are doing to our elections, not what they’re saying about them appeared first on NC Newsline .