North Carolina: House GOP begins to move on voter ID bill | CharlotteObserver.com

House Republicans announced plans Tuesday to begin moving the politically divisive voter photo ID bill through the legislature, saying they would slow walk it to give all parties the opportunity to comment. GOP lawmakers, who have enough votes to pass the measure, disclosed a schedule that will begin with a public hearing on March 12 followed by two House committee meetings in which expert testimony will be heard. The bill will likely be introduced in late March and voted on by the House in mid-April. “We are going to go through a very deliberative, response-full and interactive approach through public hearings so that we arrive at a policy that is fair and that takes into account legitimate reasons why voters may not have an ID and puts into effect a way in which those IDs can be issued,” Tillis said at a news conference attended by about 30 GOP House members.

North Carolina: Voter ID legislation could hinder Duke voters | The Chronicle

As many as 613,000 North Carolina voters may be unable to cast ballots if a voter ID law moves through the state legislature. Republican lawmakers in the North Carolina legislature are discussing changes to the state’s voting laws, namely a new requirement for voters to show valid state-issued identification at the election polls. Although no specific bill has been proposed yet, experts say that Duke students, many of whom are from out of state, may experience significant changes to their voting rights. “A photo ID requirement might not seem like that big of a deal to most of us, but the fact of the matter is that democracy and our voter rights is not about most of us, it’s about everybody,” said Bryan Warner, director of communications for the North Carolina Center for Voter Education. “We need to… ensure that we’re not disenfranchising anyone.”

North Carolina: Voter ID bound to pass | CharlotteObserver.com

The legislature seems poised to once again pass a voter identification bill, legislation that has sharpened partisan lines and sparked heated debate regarding voter fraud and voting rights. The GOP-controlled legislature passed a bill in 2011 requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls, only to have Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue veto it. That won’t be a problem this year, because Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has voiced his support for such a measure. But it is still not clear what form the voter ID bill will take. Earlier this month, House Speaker Thom Tillis of Cornelius and McCrory voiced support for a compromise measure that would allow voters to show forms of identification that don’t include a photo, such as a registration card or other government documents.

North Carolina: Voter ID Still Up For Debate | The Watauga Democrat

As the N.C. General Assembly reconvenes this year, a contentious question may again once again arise: Should photo identification be required to vote? Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has pledged his support for such a measure, although he said recently that he would consider a bill that requires other documentation than a photo ID to prove identity. "I expect a voter ID bill to be passed in the very near future, and I will sign that bill," McCrory said earlier this month. But how many voters would be affected by such a bill? A study released Jan. 7 by the State Board of Elections found that just more than 9 percent of the state’s registered voters might currently lack state-issued photo identification.

North Carolina: GOP-led General Assembly plans to pass law requiring voters to show ID | FayObserver

The General Assembly will move gingerly but deliberately to pass a law this year requiring voters to show IDs at polls, said state Rep. David Lewis, chairman of the House election law committee. Republicans have sought a voter ID law for years, saying it's needed to prevent election fraud. State Sen. Wesley Meredith of Fayetteville supports the idea and expects such a bill to be one of the first pieces of legislation he will sponsor when the General Assembly reconvenes Jan. 30.

North Carolina: Voter ID push may soften | Whiteville.com

A highly controversial voter ID bill, vetoed by the governor last year, may not be dead but several media outlets are reporting that Gov. Pat McCrory may be taking a softer stance on the issue. The bill called for voters to show a photo identification prior to voting at the polls in person but The News and Observer has reported that McCrory is willing to look at alternative methods of identification. While many lawmakers remain focused on a strict voter ID law, others are considering approval of other documents that lack photos as sufficient identification. McCrory said last week he still prefers the photo requirement but would sign into a law with other alternative options, such as a voter registration card.

North Carolina: Any voter ID law will face legal, GOP obstacles | NewsObserver.com

Pat McCrory and Republican legislative leaders pledged that if elected, they would undo vetoes from Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue that GOP legislators could not override because they lacked enough votes. At the top of the list was the 2011 bill requiring voters to show photo identification to cast ballots in person. "If we require an ID to get Sudafed ... then I think an ID is good enough for the voting box in North Carolina," McCrory said in October, referring to a law requiring purchasers of certain cold medicines to show photo ID. Fulfilling their pledge is nearly certain because McCrory was elected governor and Republicans expanded their House and Senate majorities. "I expect a voter ID bill to be passed in the very near future and I will sign that bill," McCrory said this past week. But getting a bill to McCrory won't be simple, with some lawmakers insistent on a tough photo ID measure and others comfortable with some non-photo documents. And while 11 states required voters to show some form of photo identification in November, photo ID laws in six other states were in legal limbo for 2012, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

North Carolina: Republicans soften voter ID stance | CharlotteObserver.com

Republicans grasped historic dominance at the statehouse Wednesday, starting the legislative session with a supermajority in the House and Senate, even while expressing interest in compromising on a political flashpoint. GOP leaders are softening their stance on legislation to require voters to show a photo identification card at the polls after seeing a new analysis from state election officials showing that it may hinder nearly one in 10 voters. Gov. Pat McCrory and House Speaker Thom Tillis said they favor allowing voters to show other forms of identification that don’t include a photo, such as a registration card or other government documents. “I would still like a photo on it, but I would also be willing to accept other options,” McCrory said. “I’ll let the legislature work to develop those bills. I expect a voter ID bill to be passed in the very near future.”

North Carolina: Voter ID Law Could Impact 613,000 Voters, Report Says | Huffington Post

As Republicans in North Carolina make a renewed push to pass a voter ID law, a new report from the State Board of Elections suggests that nearly one in ten voters lack state-issued photo identification. The report shows that up to 613,000 voters, about 9.25 percent of all registered voters in North Carolina, lack state-issued photo identification. Former Gov. Bev Perdue (D) vetoed a voter ID law passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011. But current Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, spoke out in favor of the law on the campaign trail and has promised to sign it if it reaches his desk.

North Carolina: Voter ID law could hinder more than 600,000 voters | WECT

More than 600,000 registered voters in North Carolina could be left out of the voting booth if a voter ID bill becomes law. Former Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the last bill, but current Governor Pat McCrory will have the final say this time around. Before state lawmakers start a new session at the end of January, the State Board of Elections compared voter registration records with information from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

North Carolina: Voter ID bill will get prompt attention in Republican-led House | State Port Pilot

When the Republican Party takes control of the Governor’s Mansion in addition to both chambers of the legislature after inauguration this month, a fresh run at the previously attempted “Voter ID” law should no longer face the political roadblocks of past sessions. In fact, according to Oak Island Republican Rep. Frank Iler, it will be the first thing on the menu for lawmakers when they reconvene on January 30.

North Carolina: Merrill takes District 2 challenge into court; ‘Irregularities’ charged in two more precincts | The Tribune

Christina Merrill, who first apparently won and then apparently lost the District 2 Buncombe County Commission seat in the Nov. 6 elections, has announced she will now take her case into state superior court. Merrill’s move comes after she was denied appeals of the voting results, first by the local Board of Elections, then, on Dec. 13, by the State BOE in Raleigh. Merrill has ten days from that date to lodge her appeal, which would be heard by Wake County Superior Court in Raleigh, and she says she is on track to meet the deadline to have her appeal docketed.

North Carolina: Expect state lawmakers to act quickly on Voter ID | Indy Week

If anyone starts an office pool on how soon after convening the General Assembly will pass a Voter ID bill, put me down for an hour and a half. Last session, the GOP-dominated House couldn't secure enough Democratic defections to override Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of a bill that would have put North Carolina at the vanguard of a nationwide voter suppression movement. House Bill 351, better known by its Orwellian short title, "Restore Confidence in Government," would have disenfranchised tens of thousands of North Carolina voters. For hundreds of thousands of others, the measure would have created additional burdens to registering and voting by requiring them to obtain a government-issued photo ID, which in turn requires possession of one's original birth certificate, a valid passport or other official papers.

North Carolina: Forsyth County Commissioners wade into voter ID controversy | Winston-Salem Journal

Some Forsyth County commissioners are asking state lawmakers to approve a voter identification bill if it comes before the General Assembly next year. County commissioners held their annual meeting on Thursday with lawmakers representing Forsyth County in the state house and senate. A bill requiring voter ID passed the N.C. General Assembly in 2011, only to meet with a veto by Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue. An attempt by Republicans to override the veto fell short of the required two-thirds veto.

North Carolina: Rep. McIntyre could face second recount | The Hill

Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) could face a second recount on Wednesday when his districts finishes re-tallying the votes in his congressional race. His battle with Republican candidate David Rouzer is one of the last undecided congressional races in the country. It was McIntyre’s 655-vote lead — within a 1 percent margin — that triggered Rouzer’s call for a recount in North Carolina’s 7th district. But Don Wright, the general counsel for the state board of elections, said Rouzer can request a partial hand recount if he continues to trail after the machine recount concludes.  A hand recount of the entire district would be triggered if a discrepancy that could alter the race is found between the partial hand recount and machine recount. But Wright said most recounts don’t change the outcome of a race.

North Carolina: McIntyre extends lead by five votes in NC7 race, Duplin County remains | WECT

Rep. Mike McIntyre has extended his lead over David Rouzer by five votes, with recounts over in eleven of the twelve counties involved in the Seventh Congressional District race. The final recount in Duplin County will begin Wednesday morning. Elections officials in Johnston County tell WECT  there was no change in McIntyre's vote total in the recount which ended around 7:30pm, but Rouzer lost seven votes from the previous total. Rouzer also lost seven votes in the recount in New Hanover County, while McIntyre picked up two. Rouzer picked up seven votes in Robeson County, where he added one vote to his total and McIntyre lost six. In Hoke County, McIntyre lost one vote and Rouzer had no change. Rouzer picked up three votes each in recounts in Columbus and Sampson counties.

North Carolina: Rep. McIntyre wins recount | The Hill

Blue Dog Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) will serve his ninth term in Congress after his Republican opponent conceded Wednesday night following a recount that upheld initial election results. GOP candidate David Rouzer dropped out of the contest, wrapping up one of the last undecided congressional races nearly three weeks after Election Day. McIntyre’s initial lead of 655 declined by only one vote following a three-day recount.

North Carolina: Rouzer Calls for Recount in Race Against McIntyre | Roll Call

Republican state Sen. David Rouzer, who trails North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre by 655 votes, is requesting a recount in the last House race yet to be decided after the Nov. 6 elections. “Considering this is the closest Congressional race in the country and in light of the irregularity previously found in Bladen County, which significantly reduced the vote margin at that time, I have decided to request a mandatory recount of the votes cast in the 7th Congressional District as allowed by law,” Rouzer said in a statement. “In a race this close, accidental human error could easily change the outcome. It is important to ensure that every legal vote cast is properly and accurately counted.”

North Carolina: Possible recount looms over Rep. Mike McIntyre in North Carolina’s 7th district | The Hill

One of the few remaining Blue Dog democrats, Rep. Mike McIntyre, is claiming a narrow victory in the 7th congressional district of North Carolina –— but still faces a possible recount. McIntyre held a 655-vote lead — 168,697 votes to 168,042 — over his Republican opponent, David Rouzer, after the final vote tally on Friday. The race has not yet been called. The margin is well within the limits to trigger an automatic recount if Rouzer chooses to seek one.

North Carolina: Coleman won’t ask for recount in Lt. Governor’s race | FayObserver.com

The trailing Democratic Party candidate for lieutenant governor said Monday she won't seek a statewide recount, admitting that a new tally was unlikely to make up the nearly 6,900 votes she needs. And it would cost North Carolina's 100 counties at least $1.5 million to recount. "We face the reality that an extended battle would not alter the outcome of this race," Linda Coleman said at a news conference after conceding the outcome to Republican Dan Forest. "It was a hard-fought, spirited campaign and we have stark differences. But in the end, in a tight race, North Carolinians have chosen Mr. Forest as their next lieutenant governor." Coleman had until today to demand a recount because her margin with Forest was less than 10,000 votes out of almost 4.4 million cast.

North Carolina: Recount looms for McIntyre Rouzer | The Bladen Journal

With his hometown safety net of Lumberton ripped away from him by redistricting, incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre appears to have won a ninth term by a slim margin over Republican challenger David Rouzer. The new district for U.S. House District 7 includes Rouzer’s home base of Johnston County, Bladen County, Columbus County, Hoke County, New Hanover County and a part of Cumberland County. Bladen County went for McIntyre by a 10,839 to 5,409 margin.

North Carolina: Guilford County Voting Issues Make National News | Greensboro Times

This week Guilford County Board of Elections Director George Gilbert said he had a major, major scoop for The Rhinoceros Times. "There are other inhabited planets," Gilbert said. "There are other planets with life on them." He said that, though he had wondered before, he could now confirm that fact because, after some recent nationwide publicity over a few calibration errors in Guilford County's voting machines, he was hearing not only from other parts of the country, but also, seemingly – based on the content of the calls – from those who lived in other solar systems. "Some of the calls I've gotten – well, they're from another planet," an exacerbated elections director said.

North Carolina: Election officials not worried about touch screen voting machines | WRAL.com

A handful of voters throughout the state have reported problems making a choice on touch-screen voting machines used in roughly a quarter of North Carolina counties. Newspapers in both Cumberland and Guilford counties have reported on voter complaints. Callers to WRAL-TV have also asked about problems their friends encountered when voting early. "We don't even question the voter as to whether it's true or not," said Terri Robertson, director of the Cumberland County Board of Elections. She said her staffers are instructed to shut down any voting machine that a voter is having problems with and service it. Voters, meanwhile, are directed to another machine, she said.

North Carolina: ‘112-year-old voters’ a result of change in data collection, not voter fraud | newsobserver.com

Since early voting started last week in North Carolina, data from the state Board of Elections shows 899 ballots cast by 112-year-old voters. Either a surprising number of people who could have chosen between Calvin Coolidge, John Davis and Robert La Follette in 1924 remain alive and politically-engaged, or something else is going on.  A local conservative political blog was the first to suggest that “massive voter fraud” was taking place, and a bandwagon of similar claims have followed. The Examiner, a conservative website, posted a story that has been shared by several thousand people on Facebook and Twitter. State elections director Gary Bartlett said the story spread quickly enough on social media that his phone started ringing during church Sunday and hasn't let up since – and a glance at the widely-circulated story shows why: "Of these voters, over 70 percent were slated as Democrats, with a diminutive 25 percent counted as Republicans…Obviously there is a problem, one in which voter ID might clearly provide a solution. A thing that only the Democratic Party swears against." Just one problem: "It's not voter fraud at all," Bartlett said.

North Carolina: Not dead, but still voting | WRAL.com

Carolyn Perry remembers voting in her first election. It was 1967 in Ohio, a municipal election, and she was 21 years old. "The people at the polls introduced me and said, 'This is Carolyn and this is her first time to vote,'" recalled the retired special education teacher.  Perry, who has been registered to vote in North Carolina since at least 1975, according to election records, was dismayed to receive a letter this month from the Wake County Board of Elections suggesting she may no longer be qualified to vote because she might be dead.  "My initial reaction? I was mad as hell," Perry said Monday morning. Her name was one of nearly 30,000 across the state that volunteers with the Voter Integrity Project identified two weeks ago as potentially being dead but still registered to vote. The Voter Integrity Project is a North Carolina offshoot of True the Vote, a national movement that purports to combat election fraud by challenging the voter registration of those they believe should not be on voter lists. "We're not really interested in partisan politics," said Jay DeLancy, a retired Air Force officer and director of Voter Integrity Project. "As an organization, we try to eliminate those kinds of biases in our research."

North Carolina: Absentee Ballot Applications Down by Nearly Half in North Carolina | Huffington Post

We are beginning to get the first early voting statistics out of North Carolina, which started mailing absentee ballots on Friday, Sept. 7. Election officials report delivering 21,875 mail ballots as of Saturday, Sept. 8, and two ballots were accepted. Congratulations Daniel and Justin, you are the first two people to vote for president in the 2012 general election! What do the number of ballot requests tell us so far? It is difficult to make a true comparison to 2008 since the first day that election administrators mailed ballots in 2008 was on Monday, Sept. 15 and in 2012, it was earlier on Friday, Sept. 7. To make the most consistent comparison as possible, I generate statistics for the this first date of mailing of ballots. The number of absentee ballot applications is down by nearly half from 2008. In 2008, election officials had received 37,539 applications compared to 20,695 in 2012, or 45 percent fewer applications. The number of applications from registered Republicans is down more than Democrats, which are also down. The percentage of registered Republicans declined by 55 percent while the percentage of registered Democrats declined 35 percent. Thus registered Republicans composed 51 percent of the earliest absentee ballot applications in 2008 and 42 percent in 2012.

North Carolina: Wake County Reaches Maintenance Contract Agreement with ES&S | Raleigh Public Record

After months of negotiations, the Wake County Board of Elections has worked out a deal with its voting machine vendor that will save the county about $140,000 a year. A 2006 change in state law requires counties to maintain the hardware and software of their voting machines. Until July, the county had been using Help America Vote Act funds to pay for the upgrades and maintenance for its 248 voting machines. The county will now have to foot the bill. Earlier this year, ES&S, the county’s voting machine vendor proposed $193,000 per year for a three-year contract. Wake County Board of Elections Director Cherie Poucher also wanted to train two of the county’s own technicians to inspect, fix and maintain the machines, rather than having ES&S do it as it has since 2006. But certification would cost the county $30,000 per employee. The county was able to secure a shared maintenance agreement.

North Carolina: Voter-fraud activist ‘frustrated’ by outcome in Wake County NC | WRAL.com

t’s not every day that a Wake County Elections Board hearing is the setting for a temper tantrum. That’s what happened today when the Voter Integrity Project’s Jay DeLancy snatched his microphone off the board’s table mid-meeting, kicking glass doors open in front of him as he stormed out of the meeting room in the Public Safety Center. He slowed down once he realized news cameras were chasing him. Earlier this year, DeLancy brought the Wake Elections Board some 550 challenges to voters he says are not legally entitled to vote in the US – proven, he says, by DMV and jury duty records that say they’re not citizens. Elections board investigators and voting-rights advocates who looked into the allegations say DeLancy used old DMV records and mismatched names, and failed to understand how the county collects data. Only 18 challenges rose to the level of further investigation. All 18 were dismissed today.

North Carolina: Wake County Elections board reconsiders nixing early voting sites | WRAL.com

A lack of county funding has Wake County elections officials mulling over how to stretch their budget to keep early-voting sites open for this fall's presidential election. The Board of Elections was considering cutting the number of one-stop polling places for November's election by 25 percent. But members voted Friday to reconsider after a public hearing at which 27 people spoke against the move. Fifty-seven percent of all registered voters in the county – 235,000 – used early voting in 2008, and officials expect that number to rise to an estimated 272,000 this fall. The board had asked county commissioners for $3 million for early voting, but received only $1.7 million – enough, says election board staff, to keep only 11 of the 15 sites from 2008 open this year. They would also be open fewer days and fewer hours. Overall, the number of hours available for early voting would be cut by half – from 1,456 hours in 2008 to just 725 hours this fall.

North Carolina: State Supreme Court hears redistricting issue Tuesday | BlueRidgeNow.com

legal battle over North Carolina's redistricting maps will reach the state Supreme Court on Tuesday but the case is far from finished, as justices must first decide how much of the correspondence between mapmaking lawmakers and their lawyers should be disclosed. The state's highest court will hear oral arguments about whether the public should learn about legal advice outside attorneys gave to Republican legislative leaders on drawing General Assembly and congressional seat boundaries, getting them enacted and preparing for potential lawsuits. Civil rights and election reform groups as well as Democratic voters who sued in November to overturn the maps on constitutional and discrimination grounds have asked for records to attempt to buttress their case. They've already received hundreds of thousands of pages. Taxpayer-paid contract attorneys representing GOP lawmakers say some of their documents should remain confidential due to attorney-client privilege and other restrictions.