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VOTE “NO’’ ON NORTH CAROLINA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

By Mildred Robertson

The North Carolina General Assembly is out of control. It has created voting districts meant to silence voters rather than give them a voice. They have determined that one kind of voter is more valuable than another, and they have sought to memorialize divisiveness by rewriting our state constitution to disenfranchise some North Carolina Citizens. While many progressive thinkers strive to increase the number of individuals who participate in elections, it seems that the General Assembly wishes to suppress participation by making it more difficult for some to vote. The restrictions appear to have the greatest impact on minorities and other people of color.

Among the amendments on this November’s ballot is yet another attempt to provide roadblocks to the ballot box for citizens whose right and responsibility it is to vote. The amendment tries to circumvent court opinions that struck down earlier attempts at voter suppression by placing voter ID laws in the state constitution itself. The law requires presentation of documentation that many times is unavailable or difficult to acquire for targeted groups. Therefore, under this law, many eligible citizens would be denied their right to vote.

On the other hand, statistics indicate that the voter ID laws are a solution looking for a problem. The state Board of Elections conducted an extensive, in-depth audit to see how many ineligible votes were cast in North Carolina in the 2016 election. According to an April 24, 2017 News Observer report, of the 4.8 million votes cast in North Carolina in November 2016, only one (1) vote was found that probably would have been avoided with a voter ID law. So clearly, the targeted individuals for voter ID laws are those folks who are entitled to vote, but who are not a desired constituency of those currently in the General Assembly.

The Voter ID law is only one of six Constitutional Amendments that will be on the November ballot. The other five are as equally divisive. Among them is an amendment that would change the elections board, decreasing the board from 9 to 8 which would remove the potentially tie-breaking vote. Further, it would transfer power to pick board members from the governor to the legislature. This is yet another power grab by the legislature and an attack on free and fair access to voting rights.

The main problem with the all six amendments is that the ramifications of their passage has not been well communicated to the public. The amendments are so problematic five former governors have campaigned against several of them. The bottom line is, if you don’t completely understand what impact an amendment will have, it is probably best to vote no. That is my recommendation.

It is imperative that we safeguard citizen’s access to the ballot box and that we vote to maintain the balance of power. Let’s check the General Assembly, and let them know we are paying attention. Vote “No” on, not just on the voter ID amendment…vote “No” on them all.