Elections

This piece originally ran in the Daily Tar Heel as a guest editorial on April 1st.  

I believe everyone should vote, and I believe voting should be easy and convenient. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the recent direction that we are going in North Carolina. Last year, the N.C. General Assembly severely restricted the ability of residents to vote. It cut the number of days of early voting, limited the ability of out-of-state students to cast ballots and did away with one-stop registration during early voting. 

Today, the State Board of Elections will be deciding whether or not to add another site in Orange County for early voting. Jamie Cox and I issued letters in support of an additional early vote site for Orange County on the UNC campus. Both of us stressed that this is what is better for the county, not for a particular party. However, Chair Kathy Knight struck a decidely partisan tone in her response.

But this isn't about partisanship or politics, it's about fairness, because I don't stand for or support partisanship for political gain. I have previously proposed and supported election sites that members of my own party disagreed with because they believed it could benefit the GOP, but I thought those sites were viable and fair for all of Orange County. What better way to show the legislature that folks of all political persuasions oppose their elections overhaul? What better way to show that local government still works?

Below are the two letters Jamie and I submitted to the State Board, along with BOE Chair Kathy Knight's letter.

OCDP Chair Matt Hughes' Letter

BOE Member Jamie Cox's Letter

BOE Chair Kathy Knight's Letter