W T [EVERLASTING ] F

 

The Wake County Board of Elections just voted unanimously to approve an early voting plan for November that cuts out the Talley Student Union on the North Carolina State University campus, where some 47,000 students, faculty, and staff go every day. The final vote was 5-0, with both Democratic reps voting with the Republicans. This final decision followed what appeared to be a gallant Democratic attempt to save Talley as an early voting site. The two Democrats made a motion to keep Talley in the early voting plan, which pleased the overflow crowd who attended yesterday to watch the action, many of them NCSU affiliated. The Democratic motion was defeated along partisan lines 3-2. Naturally.

The next step would have depended on the Democrats sticking to their high-minded guns. They should have voted against the final version -- the Dallas Woodhouse-branded solution for discouraging the youth vote by whatever means. (In Jackson County, where Republican members of the local BOE were highminded enough to recommend a campus early voting site for Western Carolina, they got threatened by higher ups. One of the Republicans resigned in protest.) Voting against the Republican majority on the board forces by law a punt to the State Board of Elections, where, yes, another negative outcome is assured. The three Republican majority on the SBOE are in on the fix. But Democrats who don't keep fighting, even in the face of insurmountable odds -- it's not a good look.

I would like this not to be the Democratic brand in North Carolina: Caving, like DeeCee Dems. Make motions and argue to keep a voting site for young people, like you truly believe in what you're saying, like a hero for the people, and then turn around and vote with the opposition so that there cannot be a test of the decision at the State Board of Elections.

I would love to hear the reasoning behind that final unanimous vote.

No, never mind. In fact, just STFU.

 

Early Voting Hours Shortened, But Days Are Added

 

Kara Haselton, The Appalachian

Last evening the Watauga County Board of Elections -- given leave by the General Assembly to do so -- shortened early voting hours from the previously mandated 8-7:30 p.m. down to 9-5, classical banker's hours which do working people no favors. Especially in a flood zone

But to make up for that slight to inclusiveness, the Watauga BOE added early voting on two additional Saturdays, 9-5, and two Sundays, 1-5. (After all these centuries, we still genuflect to the Church.)

But that being said, get thee to a polling place! Five early voting sites will be operational: 

The Watauga County Administration Building at 814 W. King Street.

Blowing Rock American Legion Building at 333 Wallingford Street, Blowing Rock.

Deep Gap Fire Department at 6583 Old 421 S, Deep Gap.

Plemmons Student Union at 263 Locust Street.

Western Watauga Community Center at 1081 Old US Highway 421, Sugar Grove.

Wake County GOP Trying to Rally Republicans Against More Early Voting

Gosh. It's almost as though Early Voting revealed a character flaw in those voters who take advantage of it. According to the Wake County Republican Party, Early Voting is part of the moral decay of this nation.

The Wake GOP sent out a screaming email (lots of RED type) urging their loyal members to send comments to the NC State Board of Elections opposing more Early Voting. What were their excellent reasons?

1. The Democrat request will greatly increase the cost to taxpayers.
2. It has been proven that additional days and locations do NOT increase the number of voters who vote early.
3. This only creates additional opportunity for chaos.

I'm sort of surprised that the Watauga County tag-team of Eggers-Aceto haven't trotted out that first one, since their kind of Republican always knows the cost of everything (and the value of nothing).

The 2nd reason defies statistics (not to mention gravity). The popularity of Early Voting has steadily grown. That's a fact. It's expected to grow even more this fall. That's why the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections cautioned all the county boards to expect up to 56% of all votes this fall to be cast early.

But our favorite reason -- and cue the dark music of moral turpitude -- is the third. The "opportunity for chaos." By chaos, they mean "fraud," you bet! but they also mean the swirling of ungroomed and unwashed and unruly opinions that do not follow the neat channels of conservative dogma. All those people voting has always scared the high-caste Republican.

Eggers-ism, An Endemic Disease Among the NC GOP

Eggers-ism noun, the irresistible itch to suppress the votes of your political enemies

Or we could call it "Woodhouse-ism," though we prefer to shop local.

Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the NC GOP in Raleigh, used a private email address to command urge the Republican member of the Wake County Board of Elections to appoint Woodhouse's cousin Eddie Woodhouse to the chairmanship of the Wake BOE.

That Republican member, Ellis Boyle, not only refused to do Woodhouse's bidding, but he also refused to agree to Cousin Eddie's subsequent motion to close some Early Voting sites in Wake, including the one on the NC State campus.

Ellis Boyle was also infuriated that Dallas Woodhouse would send emails regarding public business to his private email account, reprimanding Woodhouse in blunt terms: “If you would like to correspond with me in writing about board business in the future, please use my board email account.”

Ouch.

Woodhouse, in true Eggers-ism fashion, is wholly unrepentant and unembarrassed to be exposed in this manner.

Fellow Republican Shuts Down Eddie Woodhouse on Wake BOE

Eddie Woodhouse

First, you need to remember that in a late-night teleconference this past Sunday, the State Board of Elections (SBOE) appointed Edwin  ("Eddie") Woodhouse to a vacancy on the Wake County Board of Elections.

Eddie Woodhouse is a former aide to Senator Jesse Helms and a cousin to current NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse. Everybody expected the worse.

The worse came -- and passed, safely -- Monday in a Wake BOE teleconference in which Woodhouse, living up to his prior billing, made motions to end Sunday voting in Wake County, highly popular with black voters, and close Early Voting on the NC State campus, highly popular with college students.

For neither motion did fellow Republican BOE member Ellis Boyle offer a second, so both Woodhouse ideas died a quick and painful death (WRAL reporting).

State Board of Elections Screwing With Wake County

Struggling this morning to get our heads around a late-night emergency teleconference last night at 10 p.m. -- on a Sunday night -- conducted by the State Board of Elections (SBOE) to appoint a vacancy on the Wake County Board of Elections. The SBOE notified the public 90 minutes before the meeting.

What did the SBOE do last night? It appointed Eddie Woodhouse to the vacancy (about whom, more below), ostensibly because the Wake BOE was under a judge's order "to rank the ease" of using four different district plans for electing the Wake School Board and County Commission this fall. Republican redistricting of the county has been ruled unconstitutional by the Fourth Circuit.

Mark Binker has the only press report we've seen on last night's surprise SBOE meeting. But Greg Flynn has come forward with the back story (in a Facebook post):

In 2000 President Bill Clinton made Judge Roger Gregory the first African American judge to serve on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, by recess appointment. Judge Gregory's nomination had been opposed and placed on hold by Jesse Helms. Eddie Woodhouse was a spokesman for Helms at the time.

Judge Gregory was one of two federal judges who decided that recent Wake redistricting plans were unconstitutional. Chafing under that decision which overturned his own, lower court judge James Dever has asked the Wake Board of Elections to rank 4 plans in order of preference, including the unconstitutional plan and two other unconstitutional plans.

Last night the State Board of Elections had an emergency meeting to appoint Eddie Woodhouse to a vacant seat on the Wake board. Now Woodhouse, protege of Jesse Helms, cousin of Dallas Woodhouse (executive director of the NC Republican Party) gets to prioritize a plan declared unconstitutional by a judge actively opposed by his former boss Jesse Helms.

Early Voting on NC State Campus About To Be in the Spotlight

In 2012, there was an Early Voting site on the campus of NC State University in Raleigh, just like at AppState. Then Gov. Squishy took office, and every Board of Election in the state came under the partisan control of Republicans. So in the 2014 elections, there was -- surprise! -- no Early Voting on the NC State campus.

In contrast, there was Early Voting on the AppState campus during the 2014 General Elections, but it took strong advocacy and a major lawsuit to accomplish it. No one was fighting for Early Voting on the NC State campus, at least not fighting in an effective way that produced results.

The passivity at NC State may be about to end. There will be a push next week in the Wake County Board of Elections to reinstate Early Voting on the Raleigh campus. Everything will depend on how strong and committed the Democratic member of that county Board of Elections is. If he votes to go along (to get along) with his Republican brethren, who'll likely deny a campus site, then the whole push sinks.

If the Democratic member votes "NO" and submits his own Early Voting plan, then the entire decision falls to the State Board of Elections, which has already been successfully sued for disenfranchising college-age voters and who might not want to be sued again.

CRACK IN THE WALL?
There is recent precedent for one of the two Republicans on the Wake Board of Elections breaking ranks and voting with the Democrat for restoring an Early Voting site in a predominantly black Raleigh neighborhood, so there's always the possibility that lightning could strike again....

Naw, won't happen. We feel sure that Republican board member was taken to the woodshed sufficiently to beat any fairness out of his synapses.

Fissure Between Republicans on the Wake County Board of Elections

This is actually significant news ... when one of two Republicans (who dominate all the boards of elections in the state) splits with his Republican chairman and votes with the Democratic minority member to make voting easier for the people ... that's significant news.

WRAL was there last night at the Wake County Board of Elections meeting and took down a very telling blow-by-blow. Which is only part of what makes WRAL the indispensable source for North Carolina political news.

Brian Ratledge

Issue The First: Sunday voting, much favored and much utilized by our black citizens. The Wake Board Chairman, Republican Brian Ratledge, hates Sunday voting, but what he said was "It's not something I've been in support of in the past." Beyond that penetrating rationale, Mr. Ratledge couldn't say why Sunday voting was so needful of elimination.

Republicans in the audience came to his aid: Mike Hinton said he is "adamantly opposed" to Sunday voting: "It seems that our government has taken the path of removing responsibility from the citizen and providing convenience."

"Providing convenience." Imagine that! If there's one thing your run-of-the-mill Republican is going to come down hard on, it's voting convenience.

Republican Bill Bryson took the bluenose route, pulling his skirts of righteousness sharply around him: "Our people need to rest on Sunday."

"Our people." No need to ask whose people Mr. Bryson was claiming as "ours."

Issue The Second: An Early Voting site in a predominantly black neighborhood. Republican Chairman Brian Ratledge opposed restoring Early Voting to the Chavis Community Center (located on Martin Luther King Blvd. and named for a 19th-century free black preacher, so go figure!), even though in 2012 the Chavis Community Center had the 3rd highest Early Voting turnout in the 2012 General Elections.

But they're black, and the Republican Chair of the Wake County Board of Elections will be damned and go to hell before he enables those people over "our people."

Chair Ratledge: If voters in southeast Raleigh didn't want to pay to park to vote downtown, they could take public transit." Seriously? (Let 'em also eat cake?)

The Democratic member of the board, Mark Ezzell, pushed back: "A couple of years ago, when you mentioned this option, I opted to ride the bus to see how easy that was. It took me three hours. It is not reasonable to expect that the people who have traditionally voted at Chavis are going to be able to get down to the Board of Elections."

Bottomline: Hearing from the public -- many other people spoke in favor of Sunday voting and in favor of restoring Early Voting to the Chavis Community Center -- the other Republican member of the board voted with Mark Ezzell. So there's that. And according to the WRAL report, Chair Ratledge won't appeal the decision to the State Board of Elections.

Josh Howard

Speaking of the State Board of Elections ... also happening yesterday, the Republican Chair of the State Board of Elections, Josh Howard, who has always led the Republican majority in voting against Democratic appeals of Early Voting plans in Watauga County, resigned his seat. From quotes to the press, he seems to want us to believe that he's going out in a blaze of glory. We think he's just going out in a blaze.