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Governance
On Wednesday the NC House voted along party lines to override Governor Cooper’s veto of a bill that strips power from the incoming Democratic administration (SB 382). Protestors packed the gallery, calling for legislators to reject the override, and police forced them out when they loudly chanted “shame” as the votes came in. On Thursday, Cooper and incoming governor Josh Stein filed a lawsuit to block the new law, focusing on a change that would put the Highway Patrol under the control of the NCGA rather than the Department of Public Safety, whose head is appointed by the governor.
Moral Mondays return to Raleigh as faith leaders, activists protest ‘legislative coup’: “Leave our democracy the hell alone,” Bishop William Barber thundered to the crowd of a few hundred. –Brandon Kingdollar, NC Newsline
Voting Rights
On Wednesday the NC Board of Elections voted against NC Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s petitions to throw out over 60,000 votes. Most votes fell 3-2 along party lines. Griffin can still appeal the decision in state court. A partial hand-to-eye recount in the NC Supreme Court race put Justice Allison Riggs an additional 14 votes ahead of Griffin, for a total lead of 748 votes, which was close enough to the results of the machine recount that the Board decided against ordering a total hand-to-eye recount.
On Wednesday the NC House voted to put a constitutional amendment requiring photo ID for mail-in voting on the next general election ballot. Current state law already requires photo ID for all types of voting. The House declined to vote on another proposed amendment that would cap state income tax at 5%. Since constitutional amendments are not subject to gubernatorial veto, the amendment proposal will appear on the ballot.
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