On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled legislature in North Carolina voted to override Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes of two election security bills.
Senate Bills
747 and 749 contain measures to ban ballot drop boxes, prohibit accepting
mail-in ballots after electionday, limit the use of private money in elections
and shift authority over the state’s board of elections away from the governor.
While Cooper
falsely claimed that the bills are a “threat” to democracy, Republicans argue
that they will increase election integrity.
North
Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore (R) celebrated the news in a press
release following the vote to override Cooper’s veto of SB747 — which passed in
the state House with a vote of 72-44 and in the Senate with a vote of 30-19.
“North
Carolina voters deserve to know their elections are safe and secure. Thankfully
they can have that confidence now that we have overridden the Governor’s veto
of this commonsense elections bill,” he wrote.
Moore went
on to note that the bill will strengthen “the rights of poll observers,”
improve “voter registration rolls by establishing a process for periodic
removal of ineligible voters, including the deceased, convicted felons, and
those who have moved,” and close the “same-day registration loophole.”
The
legislation also prohibits election officials from using private money in
administering elections. According to The Daily Wire, “The use of private money
to fund elections became widely debated after the 2020 election when groups
backed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg poured millions of dollars into
state elections. Some argued that the money was not distributed fairly, but
mainly benefited areas that leaned Democrat.”
When SB747
first passed in the North Carolina legislature, Cooper smeared Republican
lawmakers as racists.
“If you are
black or brown, Republicans really don’t want you to vote,” the Democrat
governor claimed.
“This
legislation has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with
Republicans keeping and gaining power,” Cooper wrote in his veto message. “It
encourages voter intimidation at the polls by election deniers and conspiracy
believers.”
Meanwhile,
SB749 gives the North Carolina legislature the authority to appoint members to
the State Election Board instead of the governor — giving the majority and
minority leaders in the legislature the ability to each select four members to
serve in the positions. This move is especially necessary considering the U.S.
Constitution gives authority over elections to each state’s legislature, not
the executive branch of each state.
Despite this
fact, Cooper attacked Republican lawmakers for passing SB749 — calling it a
“legislative takeover” in his veto message.
“The
legislative takeover of state and local elections boards could doom our state’s
elections to gridlock and severely limit early voting,” the Democrat governor
wrote. “It also creates a grave risk that Republican legislators or courts
would be empowered to change the results of an election if they don’t like the
winner. That’s a serious threat to our democracy.”
The veto was
overridden with the same number of votes as SB747 — 72-44 in the House and
30-19 in the Senate.
In a
statement about the override, state Sen. Warren Daniel (R) called out Cooper
over his desperation to maintain control over elections.
“Single-party
control has led to distrust and skepticism among voters. Voters should be
asking themselves why Gov. Cooper is so desperate to maintain his partisan grip
on the State Board of Elections,” Daniel wrote, according to the Charlotte News
& Observer.
No comments:
Post a Comment