• 2018 midterms could change North Carolina politics for decades
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https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/north-carolinas-constitutional-amendment-fight/574546/ Since 2010, when Republicans captured both houses of the North Carolina legislature for the first time since 1870, they’ve worked to reshape the state as an exemplar of modern conservatism, from tax cuts to stricter voting laws to the infamous transgender-bathroom bill—a radical change for a state that once prided itself on moderation, overseen by a permanent centrist Democratic majority. The Democrat Roy Cooper’s narrow capture of the governor’s office in 2016 has slowed but not stopped the process, in large part because the GOP retains a supermajority in the legislature, and that allows it to override Cooper’s vetoes. Voters are being asked to decide on six state-constitutional amendments. Even after being scaled back substantially following court battles, these amendments could change the balance of power between the governor and the legislature for decades to come, placing and preserving more authority in Republican hands. That has made the lead-up to the midterm elections acrimonious even by recent standards in the Old North State. Not since a 1970 rewrite of the state constitution have there been so many amendments on the ballot. In order, they proceed more or less from least to most controversial. The first guarantees the right to hunt and fish. The second is a victims’-rights provision, based on the “Marsy’s Law” codified by several other states. The third caps the state income tax at 7 percent, a reduction from the current 10 percent. The fourth requires a photo ID to vote, resurrecting a provision of a voting law that was struck down by federal courts. The fifth moves most of the power to fill state judicial vacancies from the governor to the legislature. The sixth reconfigures the state ethics and election board, changing the structure and taking appointment power away from the governor. Cooper has managed to push through a few of his policy priorities, but lawmakers can—and often have—ignored him and forced his hand. Even before he took office, Republicans called a special session to reduce the governor’s powers. (Their actions drew lawsuits not only from Cooper but also from his predecessor, the Republican Pat McCrory.) Since then, they have repeatedly overridden his veto, including on the state budget and on changes to the judicial system. The small rump faction of Democrats in the legislature has become experienced at delivering remarks lamenting partisanship and majoritarian rule. They have plenty of time to hone those speeches, because they’re often left out of the legislative process. That has left Democrats and progressive groups with only the courts as recourse. They haven’t won every battle, but Republicans have been stung by several prominent defeats. The Republican cold streak in court is one possible explanation for why the General Assembly has been so devoted to changing the state’s judicial system—though it has been federal courts, rather than state courts, that have dealt the legislature its worst blows. But no matter lawmakers’ motivation, a broad swath of observers, from Democratic judges to a former Republican supreme-court justice, are unified in their horror. “The General Assembly is passing the laws to be reviewed by the judges,” says John Wester, a Republican and a past president of the North Carolina Bar Association. “If the General Assembly chooses the judges, it’s hard to see how the public would have confidence in a judiciary chosen by those whose laws they are reviewing.” Fairly massive article
For a state that's so close to the equator, relative to most other states, NC sure has a lot of snowflakes.
North Carolina GOP got blown the fuck out in the midterms. They lost the state Supreme Court Chief Justice to a voting rights attorney, lost their ability to override the Democrat governor, and their ballot initiatives to give the state legislature from the governor the ability to make judicial and election board appoints were rejected by the voters. Their only win was a voter ID law.
Yea, I was one of many North Carolinians reject it, but I hope if not be ironic that most voters gonna be state's African-American voters voted on support it just be to supposedly get recognized on voter resignation list by state's board of elections.
I voted against the other amendments because it was an obvious power grab. There's like 8 major cities in NC that make up the majority of the population, but due to districting the State Congress is going to be made up by most of the republican county representatives. Since the Governor's race is by population its easier to get a Dem in that spot, so they wanted to strip the ability to appoint judges from the Governor so they would almost certainly be Republican.
Same here and also my dad (a semi-Republican voter) also voted against two "Bipartisan reform" amendments too because he not buying that questions in these two saiding and so happens there was a very good political ad to tell voters hopefully (but thankfully succeeded) to vote no.
I don't understand party loyalty as a college student. I spent about 1 hour looking up the offices and candidates on the sample ballot, and I voted for the ones I liked. If I didn't care for the office/position I just left that spot blank. If you just read the amendment, it's an arbitrary change to the power structure of the NC government. Arbitrary changes I would imagine get voted "yes" a lot because people assume change = good. If you thought about it, it was a really straightforward power grab by the Republicans... I don't really care what party has which office but you need to allow different parties into major government positions and distribute power fairly.
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