BOE tackles voting law changes
Voter ID requirements and
pre-registration elimination
among topics discussed
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Concerns about voter IDs, the end of
teen pre-registration and plans for 2015
elections were discussed at the Board of
Elections regular meeting on Thursday,
May 21, at the Forsyth County
Government Center.
During the public comment session,
Phyllis Walker, a volunteer with
Democracy North Carolina, the voting
rights coalition, spoke. She regularly regis
ters people to vote and informs them of the
state's new requirement for a government
issued photo ID to vote in 2016. She said
she recently went to a food pantry at St.
Paul United Methodist Church to discuss
the new requirements with their clients and
found many with damaged or deteriorated
IDs. She showed photocopies of drivers
licenses that were kept together with tape,
one of which the picture was so deteriorat
ed it was barely recognizable.
"It would bela shame on Forsyth
County and this board of election for
someone to show up and someone not
speak to that," she said. "And they get in
line and wait and have someone say 'I
can't recognize who you are.'"
She was concerned because it costs
money that many of them wouldn't have to
replace their licenses. BOE Director Steve
Hines said that DMV offers free IDs for
voting purposes, but that's for those who
don't have ID at -all. Hines said they could
reach out to the North Carolina Board of
Elections for clarification on the issue.
Forsyth BOE Chair Ken Raymond said
that he hoped outreach efforts by the state
BOE and other groups would let voters get
the proper identification they need for
2016.
Hines said the state BOE is doing a
"pretty good job" educating voters on the
voter ID requirement but he said his office
will also be doing outreach by speaking to
various local groups.
Hines himself will be speaking at meet
ings of Forsyth County Senior Democrats
and to a conservative group in June. He
encouraged groups to contact the BOE to
schedule a speaking engagement.
"I think we can take care of our own in
Forsyth County and we're going to try to
do that," he said.
Raymond and BOE member Fleming
El-Amin praised Hines for his initiative.
Also discussed was a change that did
away with 16- and 17-year-olds ability to
pre-register to vote, allowing them to vote
when they turn 18. He called it "an election
director's nightmare."
Hines said he had 140 local teens that
had to be sent p
a state form
letter reject
ing their pre-registration.
"In my personal opinion, that's pitiful,"
he said. "It's hard enough to get young
folks to register, and when you send them
a letter that says 'Thanks for trying, but no
thank?,' it sets a bad tone for them and,
unfortunately we put that bad taste in their
mouth."
The letter states they won't be 18
before the next election, which is untrue
for some. Hines said there were even a
couple that will be 18 in late October,
which is before the election but after regis
tration ends, meaning they'll have no
chance to vote this year.
The board unanimously approved let
ting Hines draft and send the teens another
letter explaining the change in the law and
encouraging them to register.
The board made tentative plans for
2015 municipal elections in Bethania,
Clemmons, Kernersville, Lewisville, Rural
Hall, Tobaccoville and Walkertown. The
board approved a recommendation by staff
to open 19 precincts for this year's Nov. 3
election, with the ability to change those
plans if a statewide bond referendum is on
the ballot. If a statewide bond is on the bal
lot, all 101 precincts would need to be
opened, said Hines. By state law, voters
will be informed of precinct openings and
changes at least 45 days before the elec
tion
The board also discussed moving the
polling location in Precinct 302, which
was located in Hanes/Lowrance Middle
School. The school was closed this year
because of concerns of environmental con
tamination. The board discussed several
options, including moving it to the North
Side Shopping Center and to the N.C.
Cooperative Extension office, just outside
the precinct. El-Amin said he would check
into St. Phillips Moravian Church as a
potential site as well.
Hines also talked about the County's
reaction to the BOE's 2015/2016 budget.
He said the County Manager was recom
mending the entire budget to the County
Commissioners, except equipment, which
would be dealt with as "pay as you go."
Hines said everything was still covered;
the funds were just allocated in a different
way for equipment because of uncertainty
of what would be certified for use by the
state BOE.
The state BOE will hold a hearing on
voter ID procedures on Tuesday, June 9
from 5 to 7 p.m. on the fourth floor of the
Forsyth County Government Center. The
next Forsyth BOE meeting will be June
lltji at 4 p.m. on the second floor of the
Government Center. The BOE can be con
tacted at 336-703-2800.
Fight
from page AT
Gatewood assists the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II,
president of the N.C. National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, based in Durham.
Barber initially organized HKonJ, which held its first rally
in'2007.
HKonJ is an affiliate of the Moral Monday movement.
It was formed to protest actions by the N.C. General
Assembly that affected civil rights and social justice and
push reforming legislation.
According to its website, HKonJ is made up of mem
bers from the more than 125 North Carolina State
Conference NAACP branches, youth councils, high
school and college chapters from the four comers of the
state and members and friends of over 160 other social
justice organizations.
Gatewood told the audience at St. Philips on May 21:
"We're an inclusive movement because we believe every
human being deserves justice." He said the moral move
ment is a coalition of various races and interests who want
justice.
"It's time for a moral movement," he said.
Gatewood used references from the Bible and stressed
that the moral movement is rooted in the morality of Jesus
Christ.
"If they can win off lies, we certainly ought to be able
to win with truth," he said. "If they can win on the wrong
side of history, the wrong side of God, then why can't we
win with God?"
N.C. NAACP v. McCrory was filed after North
Carolina passed a law in 2013 that the moral movement
says is designed to disenfranchise African-American and
other anti-racism voters.
The law covers several areas called repressive to vot
ing rights, including: It requires voters to show govern
ment-issued ID cards, shortens early voting by a week;
ends same-day registration; increases the number of poll
observers who can challenge a voter's eligibility; and
"Moral Monday is a
necessary moment.
This emancipation day is a
necessary moment."
-Bishop Todd Fulton
eliminates preregistration for high school students. The
law also ends the practice of voting for every candidate of
a single party with a simple stroke, called straight-ticket
voting.
May told the audience on May 21 that he had hesita
tions about "some of the movements going around today,"
but a friend told May that he trusted Barber. He said he is
not following a movement per se. "Get on board with this.
Follow me to freedom, " May said. "But don't follow me
because I know what I'm doing. There're people I trust."
He said he trusts several individuals in the movement,
including Barber, and he's following them.
"I trust these individuals, and that's who I'm following
as I follow Christ," May said.
May called for a "people's campaign" in Winston
Salem next year, in which people can tell their stories
regarding fighting injustice.
Bishop Todd Fulton, president of the Ministers'
Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, told the audi
ence he grew up in Happy Hill Gardens, a community
across the street from the St. Philips Heritage Center. He
mentioned a slave who was affiliated with St. Philips,
who, after he was freed, was one of the first former slaves
to buy property in Happy Hills. Fulton said he moved
from slavery to self-sufficiency.
"Moral Monday is a necessary moment. This eman
cipation day is a necessary moment," Fulton said, "but I
want to put in your heart an even greater necessary
moment. Right here in Forsyth County, in Winston
Salem, we are at the top of the list of food insecurity"
meaning "kids are going to bed hungry at night."
Fulton says this is a great day to focus on not only
what is happening outside Winston-Salem, but also in the
city.
"We cannot sign up to the betrayal of silence" when
Winston-Salem has kids are going to bed hungry.
Fulton later said that the ministers' conference is going
to partner with the moral movement heading into July 13.
The Rev. Terrance Harris, who works with youth
through the L.I.T. City initiative, said that his organization
also will partner with the movement. He works wifh youth
in marginalized communities of Winston-Salem, primarily
through character education, mentoring, sports outreach
and artistic expression.
"We want kids to flourish," Harris said. "Any organi
zation that has that goal in mind, we want to partner (with
them] for the common good." '
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