NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD Sunday, July 31, 2022
375th Weekly Edition!
This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue. We hope this weekly 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. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads. If you are interested in starting your own state blog, weekly to occasionally, we will list your work below.
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POSTED COVID data 7/31/2022 1:00pm EDT
Click here for Covid-19 data from Worldometer Real Time World Statistics.
USA NC Total Cases New Cases Total Deaths New Deaths Total Recovered Active Cases
2,983,130 25,483 2,904,232 53,415
Please jump the fold for links to a few stories I found helpful. The floor is yours.
Beasley vs. Budd: With 12 weeks to go, Democratic Senate candidate finds surprising momentum
NC Policy Watch, Kirk Ross, 7/26/2022
Pivotal contest that some had already conceded to the GOP is shaping up to be closer than expected
With less than three months to go before the start of early voting, North Carolina’s closely watched contest for an open U.S Senate seat remains as close as it is contentious. Going into summer the race between Rep. Ted Budd and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley appeared tilted in favor of the Republican.
Between the historic trends that work against the President’s party in first-term midterms and inflation driving down Joe Biden’s favorability ratings, Budd got the nod in national assessments of the race.
But a string of headlines out of the nation’s capital, some hard-line U.S. House votes and lackluster fundraising have put Budd on the defensive and the issue of who will succeed retiring, three-term Sen. Richard Burr in serious question.
Two recent polls from GOP leaning sources put Beasley behind, but still within the margin of error.
Disenfranchised no more, ‘Second Chance voters’ can register and cast ballots — for now
NC Policy Watch, , Kelan Lyons, 7/29/2022
Allowing those on probation and parole to vote marks the largest expansion of voting rights in North Carolina since the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Daquan Peters didn’t waste any time registering to vote on Wednesday. He hadn’t been fast enough last year, during a 10-day window between court proceedings when people like him — those who were home after spending time imprisoned for a felony but still on probation or parole — were briefly re-enfranchised.
This time, Peters registered on the first day he was able.
“I wanted my voice and my vote to be accounted for right then and there,” Peters said. “Because I know how wicked the system is.”
More than 56,000 North Carolina citizens who, like Peters, are on parole, probation or post-release supervision for a felony conviction could legally register to vote on Wednesday, the product of a three-year legal battle over the state’s felony disenfranchisement law. Now the only people who can’t vote because of a criminal record are those currently incarcerated for a felony.
Experts warn of election ‘havoc’ across the U.S. if North Carolina case succeeds
NC Policy Watch, Ariana Figueroa, 7/29/2022
Moore v. Harper case brought by NC GOP could undo key fundamentals of U.S. elections
WASHINGTON — Legal experts on Thursday warned lawmakers on the U.S. House Administration Committee that if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a North Carolina case that embraces a fringe election theory, it would undermine future elections across the country.
“To be blunt, it would be extraordinary destabilizing,” said Carolyn Shapiro, a law professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
The committee held the hearing in response to concerns that the Supreme Court could uphold the so-called state legislature theory, which argues that the Constitution gives legislatures the ability to regulate federal elections without oversight from state courts.
Conservative activists have pushed the theory, most notably after the 2020 presidential election, when then-President Donald Trump used the theory to try to overturn election results, said Eliza Sweren-Becker of the Brennan Center for Justice, which is a liberal nonprofit law and public policy institute.
Thanks for reading and contributing, I hope you have a safe week.