Legislators, keep hands off governor's race

Published December 2, 2016

Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, November 26, 2016.

Prior to 1836, the state legislature chose North Carolina’s governor. In 2016, it could do so again.

A little-known provision of the state Constitution provides that, in case of a contested election for North Carolina’s Council of State, the General Assembly may vote to fill the position. The Council of State consists of the lieutenant governor and eight other statewide elected officers, including the attorney general, the state auditor among others, and is supposed to advise the governor, oversee state property and perform various other duties.

The provision was last used in 2004, with a close race for state superintendent of public instruction. The legislature, which was run by Democrats back then, intervened, and June Atkinson, a Democrat, was declared elected. (Atkinson was re-elected in 2008 and 2012 ed ever since, was defeated in the Nov. 8 election by Mark Johnson, a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education).

Now, the governor is not a member of the Council of State. Nevertheless, a number of pundits are suggesting that if Gov. Pat McCrory doesn’t like the results of the recount in his close re-election race, he could appeal to the legislature. Since the Republicans have overwhelming majorities in both houses of the General Assembly, he can count on a sympathetic hearing.

One question that's not quite clear is what constitutes a “contested” election. In the 2004 race, the issue revolved around 11,000 provisional ballots. Currently, challenger Roy Cooper leads McCrory by at least 7,000 votes, out of 4.6 million cast. Is that close enough to be considered contested?

There are other problems, too. Unlike in 2004, all the state and local elections boards in North Carolina are run by Republican majorities. McCrory will have a hard time arguing that he’s the victim of massive voter fraud, since fellow Republicans Donald Trump and Richard Burr won their statewide races by decisive margins.

And if the General Assembly can intervene in the governor’s race, does it really want to? If the Honorables install McCrory, it’s going to leave a bitter taste, suggesting that democracy is just fine, so long as the poor, deluded voters don’t choose wrong.

Such a vote, moreover, will almost certainly trigger intervention by the federal courts. North Carolina will be left with egg on its face. We don’t need this on top of the bad publicity generated by HB-2.

(In the presidential race, a movement is afoot for the U.S. Electoral College to pick Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump).

Incidentally, the first Tar Heel governor elected by direct vote of the people was none other than Edward B. Dudley of Wilmington.

Back in 1835, North Carolinians decided that having the legislature choose the governor was a bad idea. It still is.

Legislators should keep their honorable noses out of this mess.

December 2, 2016 at 12:56 pm
Bennie Lee says:

You need to read the state constitution.