This session one of our main goals was to reform election laws to make the elections process more accessible, transparent, and effective.
It is important that the public has every opportunity to participate in government at every level and has the ability to make informed decisions. To do this, we have tried to make voting simpler and also passed laws to improve our Electoral College system.
This week, I will review some of the efforts we have made in this area.
On an unrelated matter, Governor Mike Easley has called the General Assembly back for a special session on Monday so that we can consider whether to override his veto of a bill that would provide economic incentives to the Goodyear tire plant in Cumberland County. The company has pledged to keep thousands of high-paying jobs and offered to invest $200 million upgrading the plant in exchange for the incentives. The jobs are sorely needed in the region. Deployments have drained the local economy for more than 5 years and currently 25,000 soldiers from neighboring Fort Bragg are fighting abroad. These incentives will help the economy of the region and protect one of the county’s largest private employers.
Thank you for your support and allowing me to give you this information. I hope you find it useful. Feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance.
Election Law Reform
This session the General Assembly made a few changes to election law. We ratified and Governor Easley signed into law a bill that makes it a felony to instruct or coerce non-citizens to vote. The bill (H1743) also establishes misdemeanor penalties for breaching ballot secrecy or trying to convince a person to select a party affiliation other than one of their own choosing. The bill also allows combined ballots and provides civil penalties for officials who are late reporting campaign contributions and expenditures. Penalties can be as high as three times the amount of funds concealed if the State Board of Elections finds that the officials deliberately concealed contributions or expenditures.
Same-Day Registration
We approved a new law (H91) that allows residents to register and vote right away at one-stop voting sites during the last 2 ½ weeks before an election. Under the old law voters could vote early at one-stop voting sites, but registration ended 25 days before an election. The bill is intended to open up the voting process by eliminating some of the time barriers and by making it easy for people who want to vote to do so quickly and conveniently.
Electoral College
This session there were two bills introduced that would have reformed how the state allocates its votes in the Electoral College. The first bill (S954) would make North Carolina part of a compact of states that would agree to elect the president by a national popular vote. Each member state would conduct a statewide popular election to produce a national popular vote total. The presidential slate with the largest national popular vote total would be the national popular vote winner and would receive all of the electoral votes from the states that were members of the compact. The bill passed the Senate, but it is still in committee in the House and will be eligible for consideration during next year’s session.
The second bill (S353) would allow the state to divide its Electoral College votes based on the winner of the popular vote in each of the state’s 13 congressional districts. The remaining two electoral votes would be given to the winner of the statewide popular vote. The bill passed the Senate and can still be considered in the House during the 2008 session.
Please remember that you can visit the General Assembly’s website at www.ncleg.net to look up bills, view lawmaker biographies and access other information.
I plan to attend the following meetings/events:
Please invite me to attend your county, city, community or civic, etc. meetings or events.
As I’ve said many times before, I hope you will continue to let me know how you feel about the issues that are being debated by the North Carolina Legislature and the challenges you and your family are facing each day.
By working together, we can make Northampton, Vance and Warren Counties and all regions of North Carolina a better place to live, work and raise a family.