Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 08/26/24

Voting Rights 

• On Tuesday the NC State Board of Elections voted unanimously to allow Cornel West’s Justice For All Party to appear on November ballots. The board had previously declined to certify the party based on concerns over potential fraud in its signature gathering process; however, after a federal judge ruled that the board should have allowed the party on the ballot, they decided not to appeal and approved the party. 

• The State Board of Elections also voted Tuesday to allow digital student and employee ID cards from UNC-Chapel Hill for use as voter identification. The vote was split along party lines, with the three Democratic members in favor of approving the digital IDs and the two Republican members opposed.

• On Thursday the North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee sued the NC State Board of Elections, claiming that the board is failing to adequately enforce a new law requiring elections officials to cross-check voter registrations with jury duty lists in order to remove non-citizens from voter rolls. The board said that they have been enforcing the law and have identified nine individuals who may need to be removed from voter rolls, but that they cannot directly remove these individuals from voter rolls within 90 days of an election according to NC law.

 Health Care Policy

• On Friday the NC Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a lawsuit brought by Ace Speedway against the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) may proceed. The business sued the state DHHS during the pandemic, alleging they were targeted unfairly when the DHHS sued them due to their failure to comply with pandemic emergency public health orders. State officials had moved to dismiss the case since people are not allowed to sue the government over policies they don’t like. 

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 08/19/24

Voting Rights

• Two court decisions last week rejected efforts to keep third-party presidential candidates off of North Carolina ballots in November. U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle ruled that the NC State Board of Elections had infringed NC voters’ constitutional rights by electing to keep Cornel West’s Justice for All party off the ballot, while Wake County Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory denied the NC Democratic Party’s challenge to the inclusion of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s We the People party on the ballot. After some initial delays, the Board had chosen to certify RFK Jr.'s party but not Cornel West’s party; the state Democratic party protested that the We the People party was formed solely to circumvent ballot signature rules for independent candidates, and that it should therefore not be included on the ballot. RFK Jr. is expected to attract prospective voters from both major-party candidates, while Cornel West is positioned as a left-wing candidate likely to draw away potential Harris voters.

• On Tuesday the NC State Board of Elections approved 12 new ID cards as acceptable voter identification. The newly approved IDs include employee cards from the City of Gastonia, North Carolina Department of Administration, and Guilford County Schools and student IDs from Duke and Campbell. Because of an objection from a Republican member of the Board, the electronic ID used by some UNC-Chapel Hill students was not approved (though the physical UNC-CH ID card has already been approved), and the Board plans to meet later this month to discuss whether to approve it.

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 08/05/24

Voting Rights 

• Republicans want NC absentee ballots returned in the wrong envelopes to be rejected  –Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline

• Third-party candidate Cornel West joins voter group's lawsuit over NC ballot access West's Justice For All Party says the North Carolina Board of Elections' Democratic members were motivated by politics when they voted to deny ballot access to the party. The board's chair says officials questioned the legitimacy of signatures on the party's petition. –WRAL news staff and wire services
  

Governance 

• NC House overrides three gubernatorial vetoes; Senate prospects unclear –Christine Zhu, NC Newsline

• NC House overrides vetoes on landlord, recreational vehicle and digital currency billsThe votes during a rare mid-summer session illustrate how the chamber's GOP supermajority can advance its agenda over the objections of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The measures now go to the Senate, which wasn't in session Wednesday.  –WRAL staff