Unchecked Power: NC Court Decision and its Impact on Black Voters
For all the wrong reasons, North Carolina is making headlines. We are currently witnessing political gamesmanship where the people are losing. Where voters are losing, Black people, students, and rural residents are losing.
In three disappointing rulings, our North Carolina Supreme Court reinstated a racially discriminatory voter ID requirement, repealed important safeguards against partisan gerrymandering, and suspended voting privileges for those with felony convictions.
The court has handed North Carolina state lawmakers limitless authority to alter voting districts and indefinitely secure their dominance. To our North Carolina lawmakers, this is not a game. Your unchecked power is a remnant of Jim Crow that disproportionately silences Black voters and manipulates voting to lock in your power in perpetuity.
How can we support measures titled “The Election Day Integrity Act” when lawmakers alter the law to make voting by mail more challenging — eliminating the 3-day period and requiring that all absentee ballots be received by Election Day.
What is election integrity after a record number of Black and Brown North voters cast mail-in ballots in 2020, and N.C. politicians are making it more difficult to cast them? When Black and Brown voters are once again silenced, suppressed, and subjugated. Once more, I inquire about your integrity.
When SB 747 targets mail-in ballots and imposes a biased and unreliable signature matching system, and makes modifications that would increase the burden on elderly, college-aged, disabled, and rural voters as well as the discrimination against communities of color throughout the state’s mail-in ballot verification process in North Carolina.
- SB 747 allows less time for voters to return their mail ballot, which could lead to thousands of ballots being thrown out.
- SB 747 guts popular same-day registration by making all registrants use a “provisional” ballot.
- SB 749 reforms the structure of the North Carolina Board of Elections.
We must let the General Assembly know that our voices and our power will not be gerrymandered.
Cassandra Stokes, Esq.
Democracy and Economy Coordinator