voter fraud

Widow Unnerved By James O'Keefe Voter Fraud Stunt

Ryan J. Reilly | May 16, 2012, 4:30PM

"If he were my son I would spank him."

That's how the widow of a North Carolina man whose name was presented at a polling station by an activist working with James O'Keefe's Project Veritas responded to a video the group released this week showing an individual using her deceased husband's name.

As Media Matters points out, Michael Bolton, Jr. -- a very much alive son of the widow who spoke to TPM -- is registered to vote at the same address as his recently deceased father. The poll watcher in the extended version of the O'Keefe video asks if he was the junior Bolton to which the Project Veritas operative responds: "That would be correct."

"I don't like the way they just felt that they could use my husband's name and put it out there," the widow told TPM. "It just wasn't right. My husband just died, and then they do that? Why didn't they use somebody from a year ago or five years ago. It was just very insensitive."

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Drones

The Drone That Time Forgot: Small Town's UAV Gathers Dust

Jillian Rayfield | February 15, 2012, 6:02AM

Thanks to new FAA regulations, domestic drones may soon proliferate in national airspace. But for one town, the new rules will come too late to save its drone from becoming obsolete.

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Voter Identification

NC Dems Block GOP Attempt To Override Gov's Veto Of Voter ID Law

Ryan J. Reilly | July 27, 2011, 4:11PM

Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC)

Democrats on Tuesday fought off an attempt by Republicans in the North Carolina House to override Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of a voter ID bill passed by the GOP-controlled state legislature last month.

A party line 67-52 vote left Republicans five votes short of overriding Perdue's veto, the Associated Press reported. But one Republican made a parliamentary maneuver that will allow Republicans to bring the issue up again.

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Voter suppression

NC Democrats Call Redistricting Proposal a Violation of Voting Rights Act

Jessica Kim | July 8, 2011, 12:59PM

North Carolina Democratic lawmakers are up in arms over proposed redistricting changes revealed by state Republicans last week.

Proposals to redraw district lines are always contentious since they alter the political prospects of incumbents. But this time, Democratic lawmakers are raising objections based on not only electoral politics but also on race.

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Voter Identification

North Carolina Dem Governor Vetoes GOP Voter-ID Bill

Eric Kleefeld | June 23, 2011, 5:48PM

Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC)

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) has vetoed a Voter-ID bill passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature. The proposed law was part of a wave of similar bills that have been pushed by Republican-led legislatures in the wake of the 2010 elections. Like those, it would have required voters to show certain approved forms of photo identification at their polling places, or else cast provisional ballots and then have to prove their eligibility later.

"This bill, as written, will unnecessarily and unfairly disenfranchise many eligible and legitimate voters," Perdue wrote in her veto announcement.

She also added an allusion to North Carolina's past as a segregated, Jim Crow state before the Civil Rights movement: "There was a time in North Carolina history when the right to vote was enjoyed only by some citizens rather than by all. That time is past, and we should not revisit it."

Perdue's veto is likely to succeed, rather than be overridden. The CBS affiliate in Raleigh points out that while the bill had passed the state Senate by a veto-proof margin, it had in fact only passed the state House by a margin of 62-51, short of the 72 votes that would be needed to override the veto in that chamber.

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Planned Parenthood

North Carolina Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood

Jillian Rayfield | June 16, 2011, 5:45AM

Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC)

The North Carolina legislature voted Wednesday to override Gov. Bev Perdue's (D) veto of the state budget, which includes provisions to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funds.

The state Senate voted 31-19 to override the veto Wednesday afternoon, after the House passed a similar measure late Tuesday night in a vote of 73-46, according to the News and Observer.

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North Carolina

North Carolina GOPers Get In On The 'Sharia Ban' Game

Jillian Rayfield | April 28, 2011, 10:34AM

Republican lawmakers in North Carolina have introduced a bill to ban the use of "foreign law" in courts, joining a growing number of states that are apparently fearful of Sharia law taking hold in the U.S.

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John Edwards

Feds Near Decision Point On Whether To Indict John Edwards

Ryan J. Reilly | February 15, 2011, 11:05AM

Former Presidential Candidate John Edwards

After a two-year grand jury investigation into former presidential candidate John Edwards, federal prosecutors are reviewing the final evidence in what they believe is a strong case against the former Senator from North Carolina, NBC News reports.

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voter fraud

Republican Majorities Pushing Photo ID Voter Requirements Across Country

Rachel Slajda | January 31, 2011, 1:10PM

A voter shows ID in Atlanta, Ga.

With Election Day three months behind us and new legislators settling in across the country, Republicans in many states are trying to push new laws that would require photo ID at the polls. The laws, they say, would prevent rampant voter fraud.

Seven states already have laws requiring photo ID at the polls. Another 19, including some of the states below, require some form of identification, but it doesn't need to have a photo.

Critics say it such requirements impose undue hardships on those trying to vote, reminiscent of the literacy tests of yore that kept black voters from voting in the South.

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North Carolina

Republican School Board In NC Throws Out Integration Policy

Jillian Rayfield | January 14, 2011, 11:43AM

The Republican-dominated school board in Wake County, North Carolina has thrown out a policy meant to promote racial and socioeconomic diversity in Raleigh, prompting a complaint by the NAACP and an op-ed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan calling the decision "troubling."

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North Carolina

Voters Complain About GOP Poll Watchers In N.C. County

Rachel Slajda | October 27, 2010, 11:49AM

In Wake County, N.C., elections officials have received a couple dozen complaints about intimidating Republican poll watchers at early voting locations.

The offending observers have reportedly stood behind the registration table (where they're not allowed) and taken pictures of the license plates of voters using curbside voting (also illegal), according to the director of the Wake County elections board. In other cases, director Cherie Poucher said, it's been a matter of voters finding normal, legal observing activities intimidating.

The observers who've caused problems are all Republicans, Poucher said; the Democratic Party hasn't submitted a list of registered poll watchers yet, but is expected to do so today.

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