Vote Early – Vote Often (North Carolina Style)

It’s true; voter ID would not have prevented the type of fraud that we are reading and hearing about today.   As I stated in my blog yesterday, North Carolina is in dire need of election reform and this type of fraud is crying out for changes in early voting processes and schedules. Right now, our laws allow anyone to register to vote whenever they want and allow everyone to vote wherever they choose.

The General Assembly was on the right track when they entertained legislation to shorten the one-stop, early voting period.  (Click here to see the June issue of the Capitol Connection – includes a list of election reform legislation introduced in the 2011 session) 

To curtail the type of voter fraud reported on today, one-stop voting should end several days prior to Election Day in order to give election workers time to update their absentee lists before the polls open on Election Day.

And, as the Republicans proposed in the 2011 session, one-stop voting should be abbreviated to give the local board of elections time to complete their work on last minute voter registrations.  Sites should open on the third Monday before Election Day and close on Wednesday, the week before Election Day.  That’s 10 full days including a weekend of voting — certainly more than enough time for every eligible voter to exercise their duty and vote ONE TIME!

While they are at it, the General Assembly should change the deadline to register to vote to 25 days prior to the onset of one-stop voting instead of 25 days prior to Election Day AND eliminate the worst election related legislation passed by the Democrats voted out of office in 2010 – “Same Day Registration.”