WS Chronicle

N.C. voters want protection from hackers, not ID law

To the Editor:

With the North Carolina General Assembly today [June 7] introducing a constitutional amendment requiring a photo ID in order to vote, legislators continue to bend the rules to deny eligible voters the right to vote instead of comprehensively addressing election security.

Secure elections are paramount to the integrity of our voting system and to ensuring voter confidence. Polling shows that North Carolinians view the threat of computer hackers as a clear and present danger to our election security.

Lawmakers should listen to voters who overwhelmingly view securing voting machines and equipment from hackers as a top priority.

Eighty-four percent of North Carolina voters are genuinely fearful of election hacking. Voter ID is a distraction from the important work of securing our elections from hackers and international interference.

The statewide poll of 1,002 registered North Carolina voters, conducted by Survey USA for Secure Democracy, found that voters are overwhelmingly concerned about the election system being hacked.

The poll also found that North Carolinians strongly support the adoption of safeguards other than voter ID to protect our election system, as put forth by the N.C. Board of Elections. Key findings from the poll are below along with links to topline results and crosstabs.

Among the poll’s findings:

• 84 percent of voters – including 78 percent of Republicans – are concerned about hacking of the election system.

• Nearly two times as many voters (59 percent vs. 33 percent) believe securing voting machines from hackers is a higher priority than requiring every voter to show a photo ID in order to vote.

Secure Democracy, Raleigh

Note: Secure Democracy is a 501(c)(4) organization whose purpose is to educate policymakers and the public about secure and fair elections.

Illegally seated legislators seek  to enshrine discrimination

To the Editor:

Today [June 7] GOP Caucus Speaker Tim Moore introduced a possible amendment to the NC Constitution (HB 1092) to require voters in the state to present additional identification to be able to cast a ballot.

While North Carolinians call on this body to put living wages on the ballot, to consider the plight of the poor, and to invest in our public schools– all actions which would help all North Carolinians–instead, the General Assembly has taken a step today to enshrine discrimination in North Carolina’s Constitution.

The NC NAACP already fought and won against the 2013 Monster Voter Suppression Law, including a photo voter ID provision in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. In NC NAACP v. McCrory, the court found that the legislature “target[ed] African-Americans with almost surgical precision” and enacted the voter suppression law with “discriminatory intent.” Unrepentant, these same officials seek to revive that discriminatory strategy today.

Instead of protecting voters, North Carolina’s 2013 Voter ID law cheated honest citizens out of their vote, and forced us to relive an ugly chapter in our state’s history. Over 1,400 citizens lost their right to vote in the March 2016 primary when the ID law was illegally in effect.  This General Assembly knows this, and yet it continues to pursue voter suppression at every turn. We call on all North Carolinians to call your legislator to:

Say no to HB 1092 and discrimination in our constitution.

NC NAACP State Conference, Raleigh

Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the N.C. NAACP State Conference, lead plaintiff in the Fourth Circuit legal case that invalidated the 2013 discriminatory Voter ID law, issued the following statement today [June 7]:

Federal and state courts have repeatedly ruled that stringent voter laws are being passed with minuscule or no evidence of need for them, and more importantly, with the intent or effect of suppressing the voting power of black, brown and poor white communities. If this General Assembly moves forward with this amendment scheme, the courts and the court of public opinion will find against them once again.

It was wrong in 2013, and it’s still wrong in 2018. There is no version of a photo ID law that won’t leave voters behind. We must end once and for all this period in North Carolina of “suppression sessions.” The people of North Carolina want to participate in an election in 2018 that is about policy that will change our lives, not politics that puts politicians schemes to remain in power above the democratic process, what is morally and constitutionally sound, and the sacred rights of the people.

Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, President, N.C. NAACP State Conference, Raleigh