Read this week's edition of Locke Notes...

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Hi John,

As I am sure you know, North Carolinians are about to enter a busy election cycle. As we gear up to see who our fellow citizens elect to the State Legislature, Governor, and President, it’s important to ensure that our elections are free, fair, and secure.

Creating an accurate and secure voter roll is a simple but critical part of ensuring North Carolina’s election integrity. Unfortunately, it’s something that North Carolina is not currently able to fulfill. In a recent article ([link removed]) , our own Dr. Andy Jackson (Director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity, John Locke Foundation) explains why we need to reform how officials identify and remove duplicate voters.

While the State Board of Elections (NCSBE) currently identifies duplicate voters (and has successfully “deduped” 76,000 voters), there is a problem with its approach. It identifies duplicate voters based on their NCID and voter registration numbers. As a result, anyone with two numbers will not be identified in the current system.

According to the North Carolina Audit Force ([link removed]) , some people are slipping through the cracks. Using three data points (Full Name, Birthday, and Address), they identified multiple duplicates and some of these individuals appear to have voted multiple times!

Of particular concern, the NCSBE doesn’t allow county boards of election help because “board-initiated challenges shall not be based on lists provided by outside groups or individuals.” They argue that outside groups or individuals may have a partisan interest. Fortunately, a few court cases ([link removed]) allow individuals to challenge voter registrations outside of a three-month window before primary and general elections.

However, even then, there is one significant challenge: the current rules don't have a category for duplicate voter ID numbers. So, while the NCSBE thinks that you could challenge duplicate voters under the rule: “That the person is not who he or she represents himself or herself to be,” this may not be known to many citizens, or county election officials may not know this is an option.

Here’s the good news, there’s a simple solution: the legislature needs to streamline the law and add duplicate registrations as a category for challenges.

It’s fair, straightforward, and will help ensure that our voting rules continue to make sense!

Esse Quam Videri,
Brooke Medina


** More from Locke
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North Carolina Parents Rush to Apply for Expanded Opportunity Scholarship Voucher Program ([link removed].)

[link removed] Thursday, parents across North Carolina rushed to apply for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship voucher program on behalf of their children. More than 20,000 applications were received on the first day of the application period, according to a representative from the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA).

Keep Reading ([link removed].)

Filing Failures: Candidates Disclosure Requirements Leave Exploitable Loopholes ([link removed])

[link removed] Carolina absentee-by-mail ballots started to be sent out for the March 5th primary election on January 19th. While candidate filing closed in mid-December, the question of Republican Joseph Gibson III’s candidacy in the House District 65 race was not resolved until Tuesday of that same week. Gibson’s eligibility as a candidate had been challenged over whether he had fully completed the sentences for his prior felony convictions.

Keep Reading ([link removed])

Corporate Tax Cut Study: A Warning for North Carolina or an Incomplete Story? ([link removed])

[link removed] Carolina is set to phase out its corporate income tax by 2030. Proponents argue it would lead to more investment and higher wages for employees, but opponents argue it would lead to inflated corporate profits and concentrating more wealth at the top stratum of society. The U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation and the Federal Reserve Board recently provided some important insight into that debate, but the Tax Foundation argued “let the reader beware.”

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