The "Good and Necessary" Truth on Election Laws

Published August 1, 2013

by Joe Mavretic, former House Speaker and NC SPIN panelist, August 1, 2013.

There has been a lot of grousing about the changes to our voting laws. It may be helpful to start with North Carolina's Constitution.

Article VI : Section 1. states, " Who may vote. Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized, 18 years of age, and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article, shall be entitled to vote.................."

Section 2. sets the residence periods.

Section 3. states, "Every person offering to vote shall be at the time legally registered as a voter as herein prescribed and in the manner provided by law. The General Assembly shall enact general laws governing the registration of voters."

There is nothing in our Constitution about early voting, or voter ID's, or convenience, or fairness, or long lines. Even though it is said to be our most sacred political heritage, there is no requirement to vote! There is no constitutional requirement that voting be easy, uncomplicated or efficient-just that the general laws apply to all. These are matters addressed by General Assemblies.

Politics are rough business! There are winners and losers and the winners of a seat in our General Assembly enact the general laws.

For about a hundred years the Democrats enacted general laws which helped them win at the polls. There has been all kinds of political spin on why these laws were GOOD/NECESSARY but the main reason was to create an advantage for the Democratic base.

Now the Republicans are enacting general laws which reduce the advantages of the Democratic base and there are all kinds of political spin on why these changes are GOOD/NECESSARY.

As a rough rule of thumb, about 40% of the votes are Democrats (Left/Liberal) and about 40% are Republicans (Right/Conservative). The middle 20% are the swing vote from Unaffiliated/Independent/Moderate/Libertarian/Other).

In Campaign 2014 and Campaign 2016, the middle will determine who enacts the next round of GOOD/NECESSARY general laws about elections.