Local NAACP News – December 2015
Photo: Bruce Kennedy
NAACP Plans December presentation, Grades Recent Board of Elections Decisions on Early Voting Hours.
At the November 16th meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Elections, staff members asserted that a planned change in Early Voting captains’ shifts would increase efficiency, effectiveness and reduce overtime. They provided no data or other evidence to support the claim.
The NAACP agrees that having appropriate coverage of elections workers at the polls is a prerequisite, but the BOE’s priority should not be the convenience of those workers, but the access of voters to the polls. Splitting captains’ shifts into two 5-1/2-hour shifts on 10-hour days, or two 6-1/2-hour shifts on 12-hour days is a solution.
BOE staff also recommended that for the 2016 primary, scheduled for March 15, 11 sites be open for a total of 783 hours, a significant reduction from 2012.
At the November 24th meeting, a community member asked the board to consider increasing the 783-hour schedule, to accommodate the first-time implementation of photo ID. The board agreed to only a slight increase in hours, to 791. The NAACP believes that the shortened hours will cause unnecessary delays and discourage voter participation.
We are grading the Board of Elections with a D minus for slashing 2016 Early Voting hours by 39 percent (and again omitting Sunday voting), despite an expected increase in voters and the implementation of the state’s photo ID requirement. Elections Services staff, known for high-quality work and efficiency, supported the Board’s decision with a weak case that failed to offer meaningful alternatives.
The Board’s decision constitutes the first rollback in Early Voting practices in Buncombe, which had earned a reputation for leading the state in electoral practices.
When the General Assembly passed its voter bill in 2013, cutting a week from the Early Voting period (among other things), it included a provision prohibiting a reduction in the total number of Early Voting hours – unless a county board sought a waiver, by a unanimous vote. The BCBOE vote was unanimous.
The Asheville Buncombe Branch NAACP held its regularly monthly meeting on Tuesday, December 8 at 6:30 p.m. at 135 Hill Street in the Fellowship Hall of Hill Street Baptist Church.
After the business meeting, Ron Harris gave a brief presentation on the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC. ALEC has two main focuses—reducing the size of government and developing model legislation—both with the same goal: the monetization and privatization of everything.
Voter-restriction bills across the country were ALEC bills, as were bills that dramatically limited the right to compensation for Americans injured or killed by corporations, bills to block climate change agreements, and bills that make it harder for unions to do their work.
ALEC’s “model legislation” comprises templates made to look like an individual legislator’s work, which can be (and are) used in legislative houses around the country. These “model” laws are designed to benefit only the corporate good and open up a new markets for corporations—often at the public’s expense.
Learn more each month about our local NAACP branch’s activities for our citizens, and discover what ALEC and others are doing to our country.
Happy Holidays to all!
Carmen Ramos-Kennedy is President of the Asheville-Buncombe branch of the NAACP. For questions and membership information, call (828) 255-4453, or send an email to [email protected]. Asheville Buncombe NAACP, PO Box 2881, Asheville, NC 28802.
