Saturday, January 23, 2016

Misleading the Voting Public

The Mountain Xpress cartoon of January 23, 2016 by Randy Moulton attempts to rather strongly imply that ID is no longer required when voting. This is FALSE. Voter ID is absolutely required to have your vote counted in future elections in North Carolina.
http://mountainx.com/opinion/a-bouquet-of-democracy/
bit.ly/23kDaUt

Reverend Barber, depicted in the cartoon, is on record attempting to mislead the voting public in the same way: "The state NAACP wants voters to know that there are ways to cast a ballot this year even without photo identification, but the State Board of Elections is worried that the group’s message is misleading."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article54844925.html
bit.ly/1Q2Sfmh

The change to the law referenced in the cartoon, implemented under House Bill 836, does NOT relieve voters from their obligation to present valid state-issued ID when voting.
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2015&BillID=h836&submitButton=Go
bit.ly/1CrbJbX

It does, however, accommodate certain hardship cases. House Bill 836, which passed unanimously (less a few votes) in both the House and Senate, allows a voter to declare (in a sworn affidavit, co-signed by a public official, and under penalty of perjury) that they have a “reasonable impediment” to possessing current and valid photo identification. They will then be given a provisional ballot to cast their vote. A provisional ballot allows a voter to cast a vote during the election period, but the ballot is not officially counted until the local Board of Elections can verify a person’s identity.
https://twitter.com/timothypeck/status/687741717710290952
bit.ly/1Vgi7wt

What happens if you have ID but forget it when you go to vote?


For more information on the state of the law, see the NC Board of Elections website:
http://voterid.nc.gov/
bit.ly/1ZJcbx8

It's time amateur partisan activists to stop misleading the public as a strategy to regain political power.

VoteNCNcsbe.gov


RELATED

Video tries to clear up voter ID confusion in N.C.