Editorial: Elections board members should work for voters not partisan advantage

CBC Editorial: Tuesday, July 19, 2022; editorial # 8777
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

When the State Board of Elections acts, every North Carolina voter – regardless of affiliation or lack-there-of – should be confident its motivations are what’s best for the fullest participation at the polling place, fair conduct of elections and complete and accurate count of the results.

Recent actions and votes by the State Board raise questions about the true motivations of some board members – whether they are acting in the best interest of the voters or the political parties they’re affiliated with.

In one vote, the two Republicans on the board Stacy Eggers IV and Tommy Tucker, voted against continuing an investigation into whether the Green Party had collected enough legitimate signatures to get a candidate on the 2022 statewide ballot for U.S. Senate. There has been significant evidence of fraudulent signatures.

The vote by the board denies the Green Party a place on the ballot and continues the investigation into the authenticity of enough signatures to qualify. The Green Party hired a consultant to help collect signatures – who is now dodging state investigators.

Republicans nationally have worked to get Green Party candidates on ballots to provide an advantage to the GOP by siphoning votes away from Democrats.

After voting for less scrutiny of signatures to qualify the Green Party, those same Republicans voted in favor of a request – from the N.C. Republican Party -- for greater scrutiny of signatures on mail-in absentee ballots. There are currently very specific requirements for voting by mail – including how to request a ballot, properly complete it and return it. Providing birth dates and specific forms of identification are required, as well as additional signatures of witnesses or notaries to affirm the authenticity of the ballot.

In the 2020 election, 70% of those voting by mail voted for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Just 20% voted for Republican Donald Trump. It would come as little surprise that Republicans might seek strategies to make voting by mail, and having those votes count, more challenging.

The motivations of the Democrats on the board might be questioned as well. Are they acting out of a true desire for fair elections and fullest participation or merely contrary to what Republicans push?

But it is the behavior of the Republicans – not just those on the state board, but those who lead the General Assembly and have the greatest influence on their appointment – that raises the most serious concerns about motives.

From hyper-gerrymandered congressional and legislative districts to changes in state voting laws and then seeking modifications to rules for the conduct of elections, they seem to have no core beliefs – other than what might help win an election.

As we’ve seen in the latest actions of the State Board, on the one hand these Republicans are fine with less oversight of elections when it appears to help GOP prospects.

There’ no shortage of partisan pedigrees among the state board members -- with the exception of current Chair Damon Circosta who was an unaffiliated voter and needed to change his registration to Democrat to join the board. He’d been head of the N.C. Center for Voter Education – a nonpartisan group that advocates for improving the election process and greater participation among eligible voters. He is currently the executive director of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation – that supports a broad spectrum of charities and was endowed by the founder of Capitol Broadcasting Company.

No one should be so naïve as to demand taking politics out of an essentially political exercise.

But, for those who serve on state or local boards of elections, their first obligation should be to the voters – what helps them participate in an open political process, enables them to easily vote and assures their ballot is fully and fairly counted.

Partisanship must be lower on the priority list.

That is not what we’ve seen most recently from some State Board of Elections members. They are failing the voters of North Carolina with their behavior.