- Oct 17, 2011
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North Carolina Republican lawmakers on Tuesday overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill that overhauls who runs elections and achieves a long-sought goal of the state’s GOP.
The legislation creates bipartisan boards that could deadlock on establishing early voting locations or certifying results in a state that may prove crucial in next year’s presidential election.
Democrats and election experts warn the changes risk creating dysfunction in 2024, with Gov. Roy Cooper saying they “could doom our state’s elections to gridlock and severely limit early voting.”
Currently, state and county election boards are controlled by the party of the governor, which means in recent years they have been run by Democrats. Under the GOP legislation, state lawmakers will appoint boards with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans.
The legislation doesn’t spell out how the boards will resolve most deadlocks. Some Republicans have said courts will have to figure out what to do if the state elections board fails to certify an election because Republicans and Democrats are at odds.
Oh spiffy.
Republican lawmakers first sought to change the makeup of the state elections board in 2016 with a law they passed after Cooper was elected governor but before he was sworn in. When a court blocked the law, they passed a modified version of it that was struck down by the North Carolina Supreme Court for violating the state constitution.
[Then they put it to a popular vote, and it failed. The Supreme Court may be less of a threat this time, since the makeup has shifted conservative since that earlier ruling.]
Within months [of the new Supreme Court makeup], it reversed two major recent rulings, allowing the voter photo ID law to go into effect and allowing GOP lawmakers to draw legislative and congressional districts to their advantage.
The legislation creates bipartisan boards that could deadlock on establishing early voting locations or certifying results in a state that may prove crucial in next year’s presidential election.
Democrats and election experts warn the changes risk creating dysfunction in 2024, with Gov. Roy Cooper saying they “could doom our state’s elections to gridlock and severely limit early voting.”
Currently, state and county election boards are controlled by the party of the governor, which means in recent years they have been run by Democrats. Under the GOP legislation, state lawmakers will appoint boards with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans.
The legislation doesn’t spell out how the boards will resolve most deadlocks. Some Republicans have said courts will have to figure out what to do if the state elections board fails to certify an election because Republicans and Democrats are at odds.
Oh spiffy.
Republican lawmakers first sought to change the makeup of the state elections board in 2016 with a law they passed after Cooper was elected governor but before he was sworn in. When a court blocked the law, they passed a modified version of it that was struck down by the North Carolina Supreme Court for violating the state constitution.
[Then they put it to a popular vote, and it failed. The Supreme Court may be less of a threat this time, since the makeup has shifted conservative since that earlier ruling.]
Within months [of the new Supreme Court makeup], it reversed two major recent rulings, allowing the voter photo ID law to go into effect and allowing GOP lawmakers to draw legislative and congressional districts to their advantage.
