Make It Count: 2016

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Absentee Request Forms

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Double your vote with early vote!

Hey, political campaigns! There's this thing called behavioral psychology. You should check it out! Turns out people are more willing to act when their actions fit into some kind of meaningful context. Crazy, huh?

Anyway...

You! Voter! Want to know how to double, triple, or even quadruple the power of your vote? It's easy: vote early! Either request a mail-in absentee ballot from your local board of elections, or vote during "Early Vote" at one of your county's designated polling sites. Do one of those two things, and do them as soon as you possibly can, and here's why....

The national Democratic Party, the NC Democratic Party, your county Democratic Party, and most campaigns have access to a database called Votebuilder. Anything you do that is election-related, that data is entered into Votebuilder. When you request an absentee ballot; when you return your completed ballot to the board of elections; and when you vote during early vote - all of that data goes into Votebuilder. And usually all of that information is entered the following day, if not faster.

What does that have to do with doubling and tripling your vote? Simple. Campaigns are going to spend billions of dollars this year trying to accomplish one thing: get you to the polls. When you vote early, your name is flagged in the database and no more effort is made convincing you to vote. That makes more resources available for the remaining pool of voters, folks who might need a little more of a nudge.

Want to turn YOUR vote into MORE votes? Vote early, and vote often!

Monday, May 30, 2016

June 7th congressional primary: where, when, and how

Request an absentee ballot

The deadline for requesting a ballot is Tuesday, May 31st, 5PM
Download the absentee ballot request form here
Complete the form, SIGN IT, and submit the form to your county elections board using one of the following methods: hand deliver it, fax it, or scan it and send as an email attachment; do not mail your form Tuesday as 5 PM is hard deadline
Look up the address of your county board of elections here

Vote during early vote

The early vote period runs from Thursday, May 26th to Saturday, June 4th
Look up your county's early vote plan here
"Same-day" registration is in effect for this election, possibly for the last time; if you missed the deadline for registering to vote, or for changing your voter registration information, you can still vote during early vote

Check Yourself

Use the NC State Board of Elections "Voter Lookup Tool" to access your voter registration information
Is your information up to date? If not, you can still change your voter registration information and vote, but only during "early vote," and only at one of your county's early vote locations
Your voter registration information also links to your sample ballot, which is a handy tool for candidate research. The sample ballot section of your profile looks like this:

Vote on election day

Election day is Tuesday, June 7th
Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m
If you do not know the location of your polling place, you can search for it here

If you don't have an ID, don't worry

You can still vote if you do not have a photo ID

What about the who?

Make It Count compilation of candidate web sites
Common Cause NC list of candidate profiles
Independent Weekly article on the NC Supreme Court race

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

June 7th congressional primary information

Candidates, June 7th Congressional Primary

Associate Justice NC Supreme Court

This race will be on every ballot and is arguably one of the most important races on ANY ballot this year. You may vote for one, the top two move on to November.

Daniel Robertson (D): https://ballotpedia.org/Daniel_G._Robertson
Michael R. (Mike) Morgan (D): http://www.judgemichaelmorgan.com/
Robert H. (Bob) Edmunds (R): http://www.justiceedmunds.com/
Sabra Jean Faires (UNAF): Sabrajeanfairesforjustice.com

Congress

Not everyone will have a congressional race on their ballot.You can find out if you do or not by using the lookup tool provided below, or by accessing your sample ballot via the BOE's "Public Voter Search Tool." The sample ballot section looks like this:

NC Superior Court District 10C (Wake County)

Hoyt Tessener (UNAF): http://www.hoytforjudge.com/
Karlene (K) Turrentine (D): http://www.electkarleneturrentine.com/
Michael Denning (R): http://www.judgedenning.com/
Rebecca (Becky) Holt (UNAF): http://www.beckyholtforjudge.org/
Ronnie Ansley (D): http://www.ronnieansley.com/

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Grab your verbal pitchfork and head for the barricades!

Sharpen your pitchforks and head for the barricades! At 10 am on Monday, February 15th, the NC General Assembly will be seeking public comments as a precursor to redrawing NC's congressional districts. This assumes, of course, that the US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts does not issue a stay.

http://www.wral.com/lawmakers-to-hold-hearings-in-advance-of-redistricting-session/15358560/#1

"Top leaders at the General Assembly are getting ready to redraw the state's congressional districts next week, even though they are hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will save them the trouble.

"House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger appointed a committee Friday to hold hearings across the state on Monday. The committee will meet on Tuesday to consider that feedback and how it will apply to a federal court order issued last week."

The death of US Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia does little to change the outcome, contrary to popular reports. As the "Circuit Justice" for the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has the option to rule on this issue by himself, and that is probably what he will do.

*****

All public hearings will take place at 10AM, Monday, February 15th.

There will be a couple of options for submitting public comments:

1) You may submit them in writing at the the General Assembly web site: http://ncleg.net/gascripts/DocumentSites/browseDocSite.asp?nID=292; (public comments have not been enabled yet, so bookmark the address and keep checking).

2) Oral comments can be submitted at a series of public hearings, which will be conducted at satellite locations across NC.

The following locations will host public hearings:

Legislative Office Building
Room 643
300 North Salisbury Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603
Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Raleigh.aspx

Guilford Technical Community College
Jamestown Campus
Medlin Campus Center
The Guilford Room, Room 360
Jamestown, North Carolina 27282
Link to campus map: https://www.gtcc.edu/media/10954/jamestowncampusmap.pdf
Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Jamestown.aspx

Central Piedmont Community College
CPCC Central Campus
The Hall Building
Room 310
1112 Charlottetown Avenue
Charlotte, North Carolina 28235
Link to campus map: https://www.cpcc.edu/campuses/central/images/central_map
Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Charlotte.aspx

Fayetteville Technical Community College
Room 142
Health Tech Ed Building
2201 Hull Road
Fayetteville, North Carolina 28303
Link to campus map: http://www.faytechcc.edu/campus-maps/main-campus/
Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Fayetteville.aspx

Cape Fear Community College
North Campus
Room 338
The McKeithan Center
4500 Blue Clay Road
Wilmington, North Carolina 28401
Link to campus map: http://cfcc.edu/maps-directions/north-campus-map/
Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Wilmington.aspx

UNC Asheville
Robinson Hall
129 Steelcase Teleconference Center
Asheville, North Carolina
Link to campus map: https://maps.unca.edu/
Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Asheville.aspx

Halifax Community College
Dr. Phillip W. Taylor Complex
Room 108
100 College Drive
Weldon, NC 27890
Link to campus map: http://www.halifaxcc.edu/CampDir/index.htm
Sign up to speak at: http://www.ncleg.net/applications/rts/redistricting2016Weldon.aspx

"All public hearings will start at 10:00 a.m. If the campus is closed due to inclement weather, the hearing will be canceled at that location and participants may submit their comments in writing.
All interested members of the public will have an opportunity to speak for five minutes. Written comments will also be accepted by email and on the General Assembly website, which will be available soon at: www.ncleg.net/redistricting"

*****

The following story from Facing South should get you in the proper mood for speaking truth to power:

http://www.southernstudies.org/2016/02/big-moneys-map-mischief-in-north-carolina.html

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Mobile unit schedule 2/8 through 2/12; smaller, more nimble mobile units now available

The DMV mobile units are scheduled for stops this week in several NC communities not serviced by a conventional DMV facility: Belhaven, Swan Quarter, Bayboro, Columbus, St. Pauls, Tyrrell, Fairmont, and Warrenton. Here is a link to the schedule, which has finally been posted on the Voter Outreach Team web site after more than a month's absence.

You can also do a manual search to find out if your community is on the schedule this week: http://ncdot.gov/dmv/locations.html

While there is no longer a strict requirement for photo ID in order to vote in NC (or at least until the law changes again!), we think you should go ahead and get an ID if you can. We've outlined the reasons why on our web site.

The DMV Mobile Units offer NC citizens in outlying communities a chance to acquire a photo ID for the 2016 election. Democracy NC has a helpful handout on the application process.

******

The DMV has deployed several smaller, more nimble SUV-based mobile units to supplement their fleet of RV-based units. The smaller units are available on Mondays and Fridays by appointment. I received the following information from DMV Secretary Kelly Thomas (on a Saturday, no less):

"The Footlocker mobile units will be available for special visits/stops. They perform all DMV license/ID services that the brick and mortar sites perform today. Homebound visits will be conducted on Mon or Fri so the regularly scheduled mobile stops can be reached Tue-Thur each week. Our primary scheduler and POC is: Diana Cartwright at 252-830-3456 or dhcartwright@ncdot.gov "

Thanks, Commissioner!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

It's been a banner year for learning about the judiciary!

I'll say one thing about our Republican friends in the General Assembly: thanks to all the ridiculous laws they've passed, this has really been a banner year for me in terms of learning about the judicial system.

We learned yesterday that the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against two of NC's 13 Congressional districts and ordered them redrawn.

WRAL's coverage: http://www.wral.com/federal-court-strikes-down-nc-congressional-district-maps/15325900/#gDgCPIDwEGzyVP8V.99

The News and Observer: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article58756583.html

What's next? Lawyers for the state will probably draft a motion to stay the ruling for this election. Rick Hasen's Election Law Blog has an informative article with several links to interesting source material:

http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79650&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electionlawblog%2FuqCP+%28Election+Law%29

Once the motion is drafted, it goes to US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the "Circuit Justice" assigned to hear applications in the 4th District. This helpful "Reporter's Guide to Applications..."(http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/reportersguide.pdf) details what happens next.

"Applications are addressed to a specific Justice, according to federal judicial circuit. The United States is divided into 13 federal circuits, with each Justice assigned to a specific circuit or circuits (see page 19).

"Case law has established four general criteria that the applicant normally must satisfy in order for the Court to grant a stay. They are:

"1. that there is a “reasonable probability” that four
Justices will grant certiorari, or agree to review
the merits of the case;
2. that there is a “fair prospect” that a majority of
the Court will conclude upon review that the
decision below on the merits was erroneous;
3. that irreparable harm will result from the denial
of the stay;
4. finally, in a close case, the Circuit Justice may
find it appropriate to balance the equities, by"

Justices may act on applications alone or refer them to the full court. With an issue as important as redistricting, it's a safe bet the application will be referred to the full court, and for the following reason: when granting or denying a stay, the votes of the individual justices - who voted for what - are not a matter of public record, only the final decision of the court as a whole.

Whatever happens in the Supreme Court, this Daily Kos article from Stephen Wolf says don't get your hopes up, the Republicans can redraw the districts and still maintain a 10-3 margin:

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/5/1480735/-North-Carolina-s-congressional-map-gets-struck-down-in-court-but-Democrats-shouldn-t-get-hopes-up

If all this talk of drawing up districts has you curious about the process, you can try it yourself:

http://gardow.com/davebradlee/redistricting/davesredistricting2.0.aspx

*****

Latest information:

A stay was filed with the 4th Circuit Us Appeals Court. It was rejected.

http://www.wral.com/news/page/12706857/?break_id=13885

Transcript of the plaintiffs rebuttal:

http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/REdistricting-challengers-response.pdf

Off to the Supreme Court:

http://electionlawblog.org/?p=79762

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Stephen Gheen: The difference between winning and losing? Voter registration!

The following blog post is courtesy of Make It Count friend Stephen Gheen. Stephen enjoys crunching campaign numbers for fun and telling candidates their margin of victory (or defeat). The 2008 Obama campaign made the mistake of telling Stephen that his election predictions were more accurate than theirs, and we haven't heard the end of it since.

Stephen was Board of Elections chair for Gaston County, where he once presided over an election decided by the drawing of a poker chip from a hat, and once convinced the local paper to include a voter registration form in the Sunday edition - an effort that was wildly successful in registering new voters.

*******

A growing number of North Carolina citizens anxiously anticipate the 2016 election cycle will usher in the full implementation of the Voter Identification Verification Act passed in 2013. Voter ID, the elimination of same day voter registration, and a shortened early voting window form the core of a larger menu of reforms, all designed to entrench and preserve conservative Republicans in political power by effectively disenfranchising citizens who are more progressive philosophically.

What is the projected impact of Republican reforms? Some 300,000 registered voters could be excluded by the Voter ID requirement alone according to a study by the State Board of Elections in 2013. Among those who actually voted in the 2012 general election 46% without apparent ID were ethnic minorities compared to all registered voters. Black voters without apparent Voter ID totaled 36%, while 23% of all registered voters. Democrats constituted 58% of the pool at risk, compared to 43% of all registered voters.

Disenfranchisement penetrates even deeper. A study of other aspects of the NC Act published on Dartmouth College’ website summarizes the breadth of the Act’s impact:

Specifically, we find that in presidential elections . . . black early voters have traditionally cast their ballots disproportionately often in the first week of early voting, a week eliminated by VIVA; that blacks disproportionately have registered to vote during North Carolina’s early voting period and in the run-up to Election Day, something now prohibited by VIVA; . . . that the special identification [exception] for . . . voters who are at least 70 years old disproportionately benefits white voters; and, that prior to the implementation of VIVA young blacks were disproportionately more likely than whites to avail themselves of the opportunity to preregister to vote.

Almost exclusive focus has gravitated to VIVA’s impact while an even larger group of potential voters has been largely ignored – the unregistered voter. In North Carolina, estimates of unregistered voters ranges to well above one million of the Voting Eligible Population (VAP). For example, The Voter Participation Project estimates, as shown in the chart below, that there are over 600,000 unmarried women in North Carolina who are eligible to register and vote, but who remain outside participation.

	Rising American Electorate					Unmarried Women
State	% of VEP	Registered	%	Unreg.	%	% of VEP	Registered	%	Unreg.	%
Colorado	49%	1,149,895	62%	695,784	38%	22%	546,725	66%	283,499	34%
Florida	58%	4,818,782	60%	3,269,845	40%	26%	2,184,986	60%	1,452,963	40%
Iowa	45%	601,659	59%	413,038	41%	23%	325,929	62%	198,167	38%
North Carolina	56%	2,439,168	63%	1,406,290	37%	26%	1,147,794	64%	656,032	36%

Data Source: Current Population Survey: Voting and Registration Supplement, 2014. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.

Crucial to this discussion is the fact that unregistered voters, both in North Carolina and nationally, are more progressive that the general body of registered voters, and substantially more progressive on average than the pool of registered voters who actually vote in most elections. In fact, unmarried women are the leading supporters for progressive change (70% of registered unmarried women voted for President Obama in 2012). Registering and voting just half of the available pool in North Carolina could have the almost immediate impact of electing more progressive candidates on a statewide basis.

The failure to register and vote progressive eligible citizens is not just limited to unmarried women. Political scientists have identified a core of unregistered voters defined as the Rising American Electorate (RAE). They are: unmarried women of all ages, all people of color and millennials. Across America this election cycle, the RAE will account for a majority of all voters. Add an appreciable share of unregistered RAE, in North Carolina and nationally, and 2016 could represent a watershed event in American history.

Can we register enough new voters to impact NC? Certainly. President Obama won NC in 2008 by registering new voters and remained in contention in 2012 by registering some 260,000 new voters in North Carolina between April 2011 and the November 2012 election.

With Obama’s last election, a concerted, well organized, statewide effort to register progressive new voters has ground to a halt. What is needed is a new organization dedicated to one proposition, registering new voters who will support progressive policies. That organization needs to operate on a continuous basis, and be equipped to track demographic changes in North Carolina, account for and communicate with the continuing ebb and flow of new citizens entering North Carolina, identifying younger citizens who will be turning 18 within the next election cycle and provide information and assistance in registering to vote. Complete with its own ground game to register voters, the organization and educate other allied organizations on the best practices in North Carolina registration.

Could it work? Of course it can, but the potential barriers to registration and voting must be addressed. The California Voter Participation Project surveyed non-registered voters to determine why they do not participate. These points are taken from and highlight their findings (highly edited):

Reasons for not voting: . . . The perception that politics are controlled by special interests is widely held among infrequent and nonvoters and represents a significant barrier to participation. 66 percent of infrequent voters and 69 percent of nonvoters agreed that this is a reason for not voting.
Work hours: 52 percent of infrequent voters and nonvoters work more than 40 hours per week; 16 percent of infrequent voters and 15 percent of nonvoters work more than 50 hours per week.
Voter registration: Nearly half of the nonvoters surveyed say they have been registered to vote before, but not at their current address. 18 percent say they thought they registered through the DMV; among API nonvoters, nearly one in three say they thought they had registered through the DMV.
Friends and family: Among nonvoters, only half say their friends vote. 51 percent of nonvoters grew up in families that do not discuss political issues and candidates. Latino, African American and API nonvoters were less likely to live in a pro-voting culture than nonvoters generally.
Information barriers: Information comprehension is a barrier for infrequent voters and nonvoters; trustworthiness of election information is also a challenge. . . . Among nonvoters, 39 percent said it is hard to understand and the same number, 39 percent, said it is untrustworthy. African American infrequent and nonvoters are more distrustful of election information than infrequent and nonvoters generally.

What is required is personal contact, finding and contacting every targeted unregistered voter.

Make It Count provides an early effective counter to registered voters who may be disenfranchised by VIVA. Salvaging every registered voter at risk is critical, but it is not, in isolation, the strategy that will move North Carolina mainstream politics in a more progressive direction. Progressives must engage in voter registration, independent of both parties, who have largely abandoned voter registration except has delivered by their candidates, if at all.

A more progressive North Carolina awaits the effort.

Stephen Gheen
stgheen@outlook.com
(919) 264-8520