Thursday, September 12, 2024

When Trumpists Get To Be Election Officials

 

Linda Rebuck, a Republican member of the Henderson County Board of Elections, has been reprimanded by the executive director of the state Board of Elections for spreading “sensationalistic and inflammatory" supposed activities that "will undermine voter confidence with no facts to back them up.”

Rebuck sent an email to Republican members of the General Assembly alleging -- wait for it -- a “concerted effort to turn Henderson County blue,” and if she had stopped with that, she wouldn't be in trouble, because isn't that what all campaigns are about, trying to get people to vote for "my side"? (No, she'd still be in trouble, because BOE members aren't supposed to be openly partisan for either side.) But Rebuck, in her official capacity as an elections official, went much further, alleging that workers in the Henderson County Board of Elections were improperly allowing questionable people to register without proper identification -- either their NC driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Not true. We know from our own work with voter registration in Watauga County that the very rare person who has neither an NC driver's license nor a Social Security number must register provisionally until they can prove their identity:

If a registrant [says] they have neither identification number, then they will be sent a “request for identification” letter and be required to show an ID before they vote.

Trumpists love their fantasies of voter fraud because they have trouble accepting reality, as Kamala Harris suggested to Trump Tuesday night, but it's fairly unconscionable for a member of a local Board of Elections to be this ignorant of state procedures.


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