NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD for Sunday, August 25, 2019
223rd Weekly Edition
This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue. We hope this regular platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we work on taking back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation. Please join us every week as we try to Connect, Unite, Act with our North Carolina Daily Kos community. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads.
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Please jump the fold for good reporting on Friday’s State Board of Elections vote to authorize barcode voting technology. Please share your own knowledge and opinions about this voting system and how it is being established.
Board of Elections dismisses security concerns; votes to allow barcode ballots Jessica Marsden, an attorney with the nonpartisan group Protect Democracy, spoke Friday to the North Carolina Board of Elections to urge members to reject any voting systems that used barcode technology.The North Carolina Board of Elections went against the request of thousands of voters Friday and voted 3-2 to certify a barcode elections system that many observers and advocates believe is susceptible to hacking.
Chairman Damon Circosta, a Democrat recently appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper, was the tiebreaker, voting with Republicans to give counties the option to use barcode technology on ballots despite concerns expressed by numerous voters in a “standing room only” crowd who disagreed. (Disclosure: Circosta is the Executive Director of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, a funder of NC Policy Watch.)
The Rev. Anthony T. Spearman told the State Board of Elections on Friday that to restore the voter’s trust in elections, they needed to certify hand-marked paper ballot voting systems.He said after the meeting that he fundamentally disagreed with the concerns expressed about the barcode voting system and pointed out that it still produces a paper ballot that allows individuals to see who they voted for. “I have confidence and security in a paper ballot and the three vendors we approved today,” he said. “Not making any modifications was the way to go.”
Voting system certification has been delayed multiple times now for various reasons, but the latest was to consider making modifications to the process.
Melissa Boughton, Courts and Law Reporter, joined N.C. Policy Watch in September 2016. She covers local, state and federal courts and writes about key decisions that impact the lives of North Carolinians. Before joining the project, Melissa worked the crime and courts beats at The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C.; The Winchester Star in Winchester, Va.; and The Kerrville Daily Times in Kerrville, TX. While reporting in Charleston, she covered the Emanuel church shootings and the police killing of Walter Scott. She was part of the team that was named a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news reporting for coverage of Scott’s death. melissa@ncpolicywatch.com 919-861-1454