North Carolina Republicans are once again trying to rig the state's election laws in their favor with a blatant power grab.
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It would be unfair to say that only Republicans are trying to undermine democracy. For example, wherever gerrymandering is not prohibited, both parties are trying to give themselves an edge by drawing congressional districts in their favor. That being said, Republicans are usually more blatant when it comes to violating the spirit of democracy… and no state is worse than North Carolina.
We have pointed this out many times in the past, including when the GOP in the Tar Heel State passed a voter suppression law that targeted African Americans “with almost surgical precision,” and again eight years ago, when Donald Trump won the White House for the first time.
Back then, Democrat Roy Cooper was elected governor.
However, instead of accepting the will of the voters, Republican lawmakers, using the large majority they gave themselves through gerrymandering state districts, immediately tried to limit the powers of the incoming governor.
In particular, they wanted to prevent Cooper from appointing the majority of the State Board of Elections. Ultimately, their effort (as well as their racist voter suppression law) was struck down by the courts.
Still, a veto-proof majority, courtesy of other laws and maps, granted them vast power in the intervening time.
However, that is about to change.
Not only have North Carolinians once again elected a Democrat, Josh Stein, as governor, but Republicans are also about to lose their supermajority.
And that is why they are at it again, and the target is once more the Board of Elections, which is responsible for things like approving voting plans and certifying elections.
This time, they want to take away the governor’s right to pick three out of five of the Board’s members and turn that authority over to the state auditor.
You may be shocked to hear that, after this office was held by a Democrat for the past 16 years, a Republican, Dave Boliek, just won it two weeks ago.
But that’s not all.
GOP lawmakers tucked away this provision in a bill that is meant to provide disaster relief to the areas of the state that were hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.
Oh, and Republican leaders hammered out this “agreement” in secret, bypassed regular order, and introduced the language only minutes before Tuesday’s House session.
“This is a transparent power grab pushed through by a super majority that’s not happy with the recent election results, and you’re calling it a disaster relief bill,” said Democratic State Rep. Lindsey Prather. “This is shameful.”
Shameful indeed. And, sadly, nothing out of the ordinary for North Carolina Republicans.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
