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VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 48
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2016 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Opposing sides dig
in over close North
Carolina governor’s race
By Jonathan Drew
RALEIGH (AP) ; A conser
vative group filed a request Nov.
23 for an urgent hearing on North
Carolina voters who cast ballots
through same-day registration,
while the state NAACP criti
cized the legal action as playing
games with the state’s still-unde
cided contest for governor.
The latest volley over the
tight race also included a news
conference by the state GOP
calling for more scrutiny of bal
lots in Democratic-leaning Dur
ham County. The moves come
a day after Republican Gov. Pat
McCrory began the process of
requesting a recount.
Unofficial numbers from the
State Board of Elections show
Democrat Roy Cooper with a
lead of about 7,700 votes over
McCrory, a margin, that has
grown since Election Night.
About 20 ofthe state’s 100 corm-
ties - including several of its
most populous - hadn’t finished
their tallies by late Nov. 23 after
noon.
The trailing candidate will be
eligible for a recount if the mar
gin is 10,000 votes or less after
ballots are tallied.
The leader of the conserva
tive-leaning Civitas Institute
filed a motion in federal court
seeking a preliminary injunction
and an expedited hearing on the
lawsuit it filed this week.
The lawsuit asks a federal
court to require that the state
Board of Elections refrain from
certifying election results until it
has finished verifying same-day
registrants. The lawsuit argues
verification can’t properly be
finished until December because
of a mailing process that takes
a month. Statewide results were
scheduled for certification Nov.
29, but state officials can delay
that tally.
Lawyers for the Civitas Insti
tute wrote Nov. 23 that a hear
ing on the matter was urgently
needed because the vote count
is underway. Hours later, Judge
James Dever set a hearing on the
motion for Dec. 2.
But the lawsuit was criticized
by North Carolina NAACP pres
ident William Barber, who called
it part of a multifaceted effort to
delay election results that are un
favorable McCrory and his Re
publican allies.
“The election is over, and it’s
time for the games to stop,” Bar
ber said at a news conference.
Barber said the issue of same-
day registration was settled
when a federal appeals court re
stored that ability for voters in a
July ruling. The court overturned
several parts of a wide-ranging
2013 elections law enacted by
the GOP.
Bob Hall, executive direc
tor of the nonprofit Democracy
North Carolina, said some vot
ers are being maligned with false
accusations that they’re felons.
Elections protests have been
filed in counties around the state,
adding to the slow pace of the
statewide count.
Hall said his group exam
ined 43 cases around the state
in which voters were accused of
being ineligible to vote because
of felonies. He found that five
involved mistaken identity, and
more than a dozen others were
for voters convicted of misde
meanors, not felonies.
At a separate news confer
ence later, officials with the
state GOP said the NAACP has
mischaracterized Republicans’
motives behind looking closely
at the vote - which they say is a
normal part of the electoral
process. The GOP also said Durham County’s 6,000 absentee ballots
should have more scrutiny to see if there are any unusual patterns.
State GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse said it’s impor
tant to have a thorough look at how votes are counted and who’s
eligible.
“I’m not saying there is anything illegitimate,” he said. “I’m just
saying we’re not finished.”
NAACP: Gov. McCrory
must end games with
NC election outcome
RALEIGH (AP) - North Carolina’s NAACP says Gov.
Pat McCrory and his Republican allies are playing games
with the election results.
North Carolina NAACP president William Barber said
Nov. 23 that Republicans are trying to delay results sim
ply because they’re not satisfied. Democrat Roy Cooper
holds a slim lead over McCrory in the still-undecided
governor’s race.
But Barber has a message for the GOP: “The election
is over and it’s time for the games to stop.”
McCrory has started the process of asking for a re-
count, a conservative leaning group filed a lawsuit over
votes by same-day registrants and there have been formal
election protests around the state.
Bob Hall, who leads the nonprofit Democracy North
Carolina, says some voters are being unfairly maligned
in local elections complaints with false accusations that
they’re felons.
Vilsack says Democrats need
better message for rural America
talking about me,’ “ Vilsack said.
According to exit polls con
ducted for AP and television
networks by Edison Research,
about 17 percent of voters in this
year’s election were from small
cities or rural areas, and 62 per
cent of them said they voted for
Trump.
Since the election, Democrats
in Congress have also been talk
ing about how to turn around the
rural vote. Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan
is challenging California Rep.
Nancy Pelosi for House Demo
cratic leader, saying that the par
ty’s message needs to be heard
beyond the two coasts.
“We lost those voters,” Ryan
said last week. “We’ve got to
find a way to get back in, and
that starts with a message that
resonates in the flyover states.”
Vilsack says the party should
have had a tougher counter-
message to Trump’s positions on
deporting immigrants who make
up some of the farm workforce
and opposing trade deals that are
good for agriculture.
“If you have no market and
no workforce, what good does
it do,” Vilsack said. “My guess
is, if you confronted the aver
age farmer with that dilemma,
they’d go, “Well, let me think
about that.’”
He said Democrats didn’t do
that “because we didn’t think
we’d have to,” because Clinton
appeared to be on track to win
the election.
Vilsack is the only remain
ing member of Obama’s origi
nal cabinet. As secretary, he’s
focused on rebuilding rural
communities, increasing the di
versity of types of agriculture,
boosting innovation and re
search and making school meals
healthier. He’s also worked to re
solve civil rights claims against
the department.
He said he thinks the Obama admin
istration’s work on many of those is
sues will hold, particularly because
of millennials’ deep interest in food
issues and because the agriculture
and food industries have already
adapted to many regulations.
By Mary Clare Jalonick
WASHINGTON (AP) - No
one listened to Tom Vilsack.
As agriculture secretary dur
ing the entire Obama administra
tion, the former Iowa governor
has for years been telling anyone
who will pay attention - farm
ers, members of Congress, even
Hillary Clinton - that Democrats
need a better message for rural
America. And he’s spent most
of his tenure focusing on rural
development, trying to revital
ize areas that ultimately voted
for Republican Donald Trump in
this year’s presidential election.
“The Democratic Party, in
my opinion, has not made as
much of an effort as it ought to,
to speak to rural voters,” Vilsack
said Nov. 22 in an interview with
The Associated Press. “What’s
frustrating to me is that we actu
ally have something we can say
to them, and we have chosen, for
whatever reason, not to say it.”
Vilsack is a longtime friend
of Bill and Hillary Clinton and
was close to becoming Hillary
Clinton’s vice presidential run
ning mate. She chose Virginia
Sen. Tim Kaine instead. Clinton
ultimately won Virginia but lost,
deeply, in many rural areas of
the country.
Vilsack says he understands
why party leaders chose a dif
ferent path to try for electoral
victory, focusing on expanding
populations like Hispanics and
African-Americans who had
come out in large numbers to
vote for Barack Obama, the na
tion’s first black president, in
2008 and 2012.
The problem, he said, is those
groups represent around the
same percentage of the popula
tion as rural voters. And he says
Democrats didn’t have enough
of a counter argument to pow
erful Republican themes of less
regulation and lower taxes.
“There wasn’t an overarching
theme that a person in a small
town could go, 'Oh, they’re
Chancellor Debra Saunders-White
NCCU to Hold ‘Celebration of Life
Tribute’ For Chancellor Debra
Saunders-White on Dec. 2
North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is saddened by the loss of the 11 th Chancellor, Dr. Debra
Saunders-White, who passed away on Saturday, Nov. 26 after a brave fight with cancer. Saunders-White
served as NCCU’s chief administrator, a position she held since June 1,2013. In her honor, a ‘Celebration
of Life Tribute’ will be held on Friday, Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. in NCCU’s McDougald-McLendon Arena.
Saunders-White’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3 at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
(414 Buckroe Avenue, Hampton, Virginia 23664) in Virginia.
“Her loss is nearly immeasurable to our community, but her influence on higher education and her
genuine love and dedication for NCCU, most especially the students, are clearly evident by her impact
in Durham, across North Carolina and throughout our nation,” said Dr. Johnson 0. Akinleye, acting
chancellor, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs in a statement to the NCCU community.
“Chancellor Saunders-White was a powerhouse of energy and wit; she spent her life passionately
executing on her visionary and transformative strategy of using education to create opportunity.”
Saunders-White was appointed as the university’s first permanent female chancellor on February 8,
2013, after a successful career with the U.S. Department of Education. She joined the U.S. Department
of Education as the deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs prior to her appointment as
acting assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education. She also served as vice chancellor
for information technology systems at University of North Carolina Wilmington and vice president for
technology and chief information officer at Hampton University. Prior to entering higher education
administration, Saunders-White spent 15 years in the corporate sector at IBM.
A Hampton, Va., native, Saunders-White earned her bachelor’s degree in history from the University
of Virginia. She earned a Master of Business Administration from the College of William & Mary and a
doctorate in higher education administration from The George Washington University.
Saunders-White’s vision of “Eagle Excellence” made delivering excellence in NCCU’s classrooms,
excellence throughout the campus and excellence in the institution’s service to the community a focus
during her administration.
During her three years as NCCU chancellor, the university sustained a number of achievements
including the current development of a new Student Center and inclusion in the Connect NC bond that
will build a new School of Business. Under her leadership, NCCU received numerous high rankings and
honored as the 2016 HBCU of the Year by HBCU Digest.
Throughout her administration, Saunders-White strategically enhanced, elevated and showcased
NCCU as a first-choice, premier and global institution of higher learning with a significant increase in
retention and graduation rates, strength and reputation among education administrators, student-faculty
ratios, high school standing for incoming first-year students and alumni giving. As a result, the university
became the third-highest ranked public Historically Black College of University (HBCU) in the nation by
U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, NCCU has recorded several institutional fundraising records.
A testament of truth and service, Saunders-White was actively involved in a number of service and
community organizations, including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., The Links, Incorporated, Made
for Durham and United Way of the Greater Triangle.
Saunders-White is survived by two children, Elizabeth Paige and Cecil III, her mother, Irene Saunders,
and her brothers, Roger, Ralph and Kyle Saunders, and their families, a number of other family members
and a host of friends and colleagues.
In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to The Saunders-White Family Endowed Scholarship at
www.nccu.edu, select ‘Giving’ and choose The Saunders-White Family Endowed Scholarship from the
designation list. Checks can be made payable to the NCCU Foundation with The Saunders-White Family
Endowed Scholarship on the memo line addressed to NCCU Institutional Advancement, PO Box 19363,
Durham, NC 27707.
Fact Sheet on Sessions Record Available Online
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Following President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he intends to
nominate Senator Jeff Sessions to the position of U.S. Attorney General, Alliance for Justice joined
civil-rights and pro-democracy organizations compiling fact sheets on Sessions’ record.
The AFJ fact sheet, detailing disturbing aspects of Sessions’ record on civil rights, women’s rights,
the environment, LGBTQ rights, immigration, criminal justice and the environment, is available here.
You can also find it on this page on our AFJ website with Nan Aron’s essay on the Sessions nomina
tion. Our resources on this page will be updated as more become available.
Please contact Laurie Kinney at AFJ for more information or to reach AFJ President Nan Aron for
comment.