Protecting Voting Rights & Fair Elections

Democracy depends on voting rights and integrity. For the last 10 years, Republicans have drawn unconstitutional congressional and legislative districts, curbed voting accessibility, mandated voter photo IDs and restricted the Board of Elections’ authority. All this being done to manipulate and suppress voting rights.

In 2018, I cosponsored a bill to remove the redistricting process from the legislature and give it to an independent citizen’s commission. Voters should choose their representatives; representatives should not choose their voters. The bill was never heard.  Legislative redistricting resulted in a court finding that NC legislators engaged in racial gerrymandering with “surgical precision” and again in 2021, with unconstitutional political gerrymandering.  The courts have been our safeguard, however NC Republican leaders have filed a case in the US Supreme Court, Moore v. Harper, to remove any judicial check over legislative redistricting actions.

In 2021, I sponsored and filed a Safeguarding Voting Rights bill, which would allow for automatic and same day registration; accessibility of absentee ballots; election day as a paid state holiday and flexibility in early voting hours. Once again, the bill was blocked by Republican leadership and never heard in a committee.

I applaud the recent court decision which allows for those convicted of crimes and who have served their sentences, be given the right to vote.

I will fight for election integrity. Dark money in politics is bad for our democracy. I have never accepted campaign money from any corporate PAC. I will work on legislation that limits corporate spending and bundling of money. I want to ensure every paid political advertisement is clearly identified with the people who pay for it and bundled money is accountable. Legislation should be passed to prohibit lawmakers from financially profiting based on nonpublic, legislative information.

The State Board of Election’s proposed rules over the conduct of poll workers and observers should be implemented to insure there are no instances of voter intimidation. No lawmaker has the legal authority to inspect voting machines. In Durham in 2020, and happening Nationwide now, lawmakers are demanding access. Voters must have confidence in the election process and outcome.