NC NAACP Responds to Delay for Special Election
NC NAACP responds to Governor McCrory’s decision to postpone until November a special election for vacant 12th congressional district.
The North Carolina NAACP State Conference spoke out against North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s recent decision to postpone until November the special election for the state’s 12th Congressional District, vacant since the resignation of Rep. Mel Watt, who was named Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by President Barack Obama. More than 700,000 North Carolinians live in the “majority-minority” district, and the 10-month delay in the election is against all state precedent.
“Under Governor McCrory’s plan, citizens of North Carolina will be forced to go more than 300 days without their constitutionally guaranteed right to representation. While the Congress debates the Farm Bill, budget issues, immigration reform, historic national security issues, and the future of Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act itself, the 12th District—comprising citizens of North Carolina from all walks of life, black, Latino, white, poor and rich, hard-working democrats, republicans, and independents—will be without a voice,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II.
The state NAACP has denounced an extreme pattern of denial by Governor McCrory, including denial of: the payroll tax credit for more than 900,000 poor and working people; federal funding to expand Medicaid to provide healthcare to 500,000 North Carolinians; federally-funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation to help 170,000 laid-off workers; and increased per-pupil education spending, driving our teacher salaries to among the lowest in the country.
Similarly, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) is attempting to deny a Senate confirmation vote for a nominee for a federal judgeship who would be the first African American and only the second woman to serve in that position. The governor and legislature have worked diligently to deny many citizens their right to vote, and this decision will deny the people of the 12th District representation in Congress.
“The Governor’s decision is the latest case of undemocratic political bullying,” said Dr. Barber. “Taxation without representation is a form of tyranny. Surely there can be a fair formula worked out to ensure that all the people of the 12th District will have their voice heard in this historic session of Congress.”
If a new election calendar cannot be agreed upon without delay, the NC NAACP is actively exploring legal options to ensure that the rights of all people who reside in the 12th District will be protected.
“This is not a partisan question, this decision is about the very definition of democracy,” said Dr. Barber.
