You lost me at "destroying NCGOP credibility" ....LOL! If they had any! Which they do not. They are probably the worst GOP organization in the country. Total failures at every level.
Love you Andy, but I’m with Belling the Cat. Why do we have voting laws if the democrats don’t have to follow them? It is NOT ok to allow UOCAVA ballots to be received and counted with ZERO RESIDENCY OR ID REQUIREMENTS. If someone has voted in this state for over 8 years (which most of these voters have, they were around when the Voter ID law passed. FOLLOW THE LAW. It’s not new. It was on the ballot.
I'm sympathetic to that argument, and I agree that these issues should have been fixed long ago. But you can't retroactively disqualify votes cast in good faith by eligible voters.
NC has the worst state GOP of all 50, I suspect. However, I'm not following your argument in context of the last four-to-25 years of argumentation over pesky voting details like laws that set the boundaries for legal registrations, votes, and election results.
Dems run everything in NC; Dems run elections, and count (and count and count) votes. Dems rule the roost making the rules and choosing not to enforce them. How does holding the BoE accountable to the literal laws somehow turn around to be "bad optics" for Rs? "These [voter] registrations lacked [things] required by law" doesn't seem like a technicality. Really not at all. It straightforwardly describes votes that must be thrown out. Forcing the BoE to do their jobs apparently takes a court case, and I don't care who brings it.
Yeah, Dems didn't care (because that's how they win close elections), but in fact these are *not* legal votes by legally registered voters, which even you admit the BoE should have addressed "months, if not years ago". That is simply not a technicality. Their dereliction of duty does not make those votes legal.
Hey, thanks for reading and the thoughtful response. To me, this is categorically different from throwing out votes cast by ineligible people. You can't penalize people who registered according to the rules, even if those rules weren't accurate.
Still puzzling through your perspective here :) though. Rs seem to be saying we should question the BoE saying 1. "trust us", & 2. "we thought about it and conclude you should trust us". Most people these days find the credibility of the Rs' question much higher than the BoE's dismissal. It's definitely bigger than one seat: if we the people don't hold the BoE accountable, they'll _never_ do their job. They're saying as much right out loud.
We as a society have agreed to distinguish between potential (eligible) and actual (legal) voters by having rules/laws that convert eligible to legal by meeting criteria to register correctly to vote, in advance. There is no equivalence between eligible and legal; correct registration is required. A person not correctly registered cannot cast a legal vote, regardless of BoE dereliction of duty. (It is literally and by state & federal law the responsibility of the NCBoE to maintain clean lists of properly registered voters.) If a person cheats on his taxes five years and gets audited year 6, he can't say 'the IRS never checked my returns before so it's outrageous to look at them now.'
More to the point of your piece, I'm sure the Dems will do their best to create bad optics for the Rs, and given the status quo in NC, it may have some effect. With all of the scrutiny on voting laws and enforcement (or not), I wouldn't bet the ranch on dinging the Rs too badly. Maybe some of these votes are good to count, maybe not. Let's not assume what unelected BoE officials can't demonstrate transparently, Rs are saying; let's not anoint a winner with 10s of thousands of votes (& the outcome) in question.
Seems to me the trust/outrage defense/attack is dead or dying in 2024 American society, if not yet among NC Dems and their appointed BoE. Dems fought against voter ID and lost legally & even more so in the court of public opinion, in NC and across the nation. Dems in a huff fighting to count every winning vote, even technically illegally (un)registered voters' votes, is in the same ballpark.
You lost me at "destroying NCGOP credibility" ....LOL! If they had any! Which they do not. They are probably the worst GOP organization in the country. Total failures at every level.
Love you Andy, but I’m with Belling the Cat. Why do we have voting laws if the democrats don’t have to follow them? It is NOT ok to allow UOCAVA ballots to be received and counted with ZERO RESIDENCY OR ID REQUIREMENTS. If someone has voted in this state for over 8 years (which most of these voters have, they were around when the Voter ID law passed. FOLLOW THE LAW. It’s not new. It was on the ballot.
I'm sympathetic to that argument, and I agree that these issues should have been fixed long ago. But you can't retroactively disqualify votes cast in good faith by eligible voters.
They do it all the time.
Who is "they" and please be specific about where and please be very specific when you say "all the time."
NC has the worst state GOP of all 50, I suspect. However, I'm not following your argument in context of the last four-to-25 years of argumentation over pesky voting details like laws that set the boundaries for legal registrations, votes, and election results.
Dems run everything in NC; Dems run elections, and count (and count and count) votes. Dems rule the roost making the rules and choosing not to enforce them. How does holding the BoE accountable to the literal laws somehow turn around to be "bad optics" for Rs? "These [voter] registrations lacked [things] required by law" doesn't seem like a technicality. Really not at all. It straightforwardly describes votes that must be thrown out. Forcing the BoE to do their jobs apparently takes a court case, and I don't care who brings it.
Yeah, Dems didn't care (because that's how they win close elections), but in fact these are *not* legal votes by legally registered voters, which even you admit the BoE should have addressed "months, if not years ago". That is simply not a technicality. Their dereliction of duty does not make those votes legal.
Hey, thanks for reading and the thoughtful response. To me, this is categorically different from throwing out votes cast by ineligible people. You can't penalize people who registered according to the rules, even if those rules weren't accurate.
Still puzzling through your perspective here :) though. Rs seem to be saying we should question the BoE saying 1. "trust us", & 2. "we thought about it and conclude you should trust us". Most people these days find the credibility of the Rs' question much higher than the BoE's dismissal. It's definitely bigger than one seat: if we the people don't hold the BoE accountable, they'll _never_ do their job. They're saying as much right out loud.
We as a society have agreed to distinguish between potential (eligible) and actual (legal) voters by having rules/laws that convert eligible to legal by meeting criteria to register correctly to vote, in advance. There is no equivalence between eligible and legal; correct registration is required. A person not correctly registered cannot cast a legal vote, regardless of BoE dereliction of duty. (It is literally and by state & federal law the responsibility of the NCBoE to maintain clean lists of properly registered voters.) If a person cheats on his taxes five years and gets audited year 6, he can't say 'the IRS never checked my returns before so it's outrageous to look at them now.'
More to the point of your piece, I'm sure the Dems will do their best to create bad optics for the Rs, and given the status quo in NC, it may have some effect. With all of the scrutiny on voting laws and enforcement (or not), I wouldn't bet the ranch on dinging the Rs too badly. Maybe some of these votes are good to count, maybe not. Let's not assume what unelected BoE officials can't demonstrate transparently, Rs are saying; let's not anoint a winner with 10s of thousands of votes (& the outcome) in question.
Seems to me the trust/outrage defense/attack is dead or dying in 2024 American society, if not yet among NC Dems and their appointed BoE. Dems fought against voter ID and lost legally & even more so in the court of public opinion, in NC and across the nation. Dems in a huff fighting to count every winning vote, even technically illegally (un)registered voters' votes, is in the same ballpark.
I wish they’d listen to you.