DOJ sues NC over voter rolls management (05-28-2025--Hour3)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for your support. Before I get to my next topic, just a couple of messages here about the previous hours topic about the woman who had her car stolen. Her dog was in the car. Dog's name is Julio. Police found the car, arrested the juveniles that stole it, but she still doesn't ever dog back, and the juveniles are being protected by the quote justice system. They were immediately released, and they've been taunting her on text messaging and such, trying to extort her for the return of her dog. And I don't understand why this isn't probable cause to go hit their house and get the dog back. Like to me, that's probable cause they had the car, they stole the car. You caught them with the car. You've charged them with that, and now they've got messages that they've got the dog. So anyway, so some of the messaging on this, Dennis said, I wish the lady with the stolen dog would find a way to make public the judge's name that refuses to prosecute the kids and or their parents to return her dog and cease with the harassment. I for one, would like to know the jerk's name that wears the black robe. Yeah. Same, Yeah, maybe your cell phone number was on the dog's collar. Jay says, that's how they're taunting her. But yeah, I don't know. They probably got her number off of the police report, right, because she, as an adult, is the victim, and as an adult, her information is public record, and they fill in all that stuff, her address, her phone number, all of it. It's on the police report, and their information is all blacked out. It's all redacted because they're juveniles. And so now they have free reign to torment her, to further victimize her. Got a message from Russ I have some ideas on how to address this situation with the woman's dog. Unfortunately, they aren't very due processing. John Wick did nothing wrong. We've missed the balance between rights and empathy and justice and correcting unwonted behavior. An officer friend told me he encounters the same juveniles all the time. One he personally arrested five times in one week. Another twelve year old was breaking into cars at an apartment complex, talked trash the whole way to the police station, calling him a weak bleep. Nothing you can do to me. You're wasting both our time taking me in, et cetera, et cetera. I have no doubt they know the system. They know the system better than a lot of people that work in the system, and they know where all the pressure points are. They know where the loopholes are. It is not a coincidence that the massive spike in juvenile crime has occurred in the wake of quote reforms that made it virtually impossible to incarcerate or to punish juveniles. If you want to live like a criminal, then society needs to treat you like a criminal. But Pete, they're just children. They are criminals. If there is no risk to doing the behavior, they will continue doing the behavior, and you will lose the city, you will lose the society. We will not live in a society where we are prey to these predators. Let me shift gears down. The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Board of Elections. So the federal DOJ suing us for failure to maintain an accurate voter list in violation of the Help America Vote Act. Finally, finally, turns out we just needed a new president, right. We didn't need new laws. We needed somebody to enforce the laws. You can pass all the laws in the world, and it's not going to matter if you do not enforce them. There's no reason. This classic example of this was Charlotte's ordinance on the bathroom access for transgenders that prompted HB two, And I was working up in Ashville at the time, but I was covering the story up there, and I read through the reports and the minutes from the council meetings and such, and we literally had the city attorney, Bob Hageman, advising council that, yes, this city ordinance does call for daily fines against businesses that do not provide this kind of bathroom access, but we wouldn't enforce it, and that is not the way law works, and shame on Bob for making that kind of a statement. You do not pass laws with the intent of not enforcing them. There's no reason to have the law. Then, the lawsuit alleges that the state of North Carolina, in violation of the Help America Vote Acts mandate and clear Congressional intent, used a state voter registration form that did not require a voter to provide identifying information like a driver's license or the last four digits of a social Security number. This is from the Department of Justice press release. So when you sign up, you get the voter registration form and it does not require the driver's license number or the last four of your social Voters were then added to the state's voter registration role without that required information, and many of these voters remain on the roles without it. If any of this issue sounds familiar, it's because prior to the twenty twenty four election, there were complaints filed against North Carolina for this very thing, and after the Supreme Court race that got all tied up because it was so close, when we had the recounts and everything between Alison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin. This was one of the things they cited. On March twenty fifth, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order two four eight. It's entitled Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections to ensure that elections are being held in compliance with federal laws that guard against illegal voting, unlawful discrimination, and other forms of fraud, error, or suspicion. The election integrity issues raised in this action are a core component of the federal election laws that Congress has statutorily charged the Attorney General to enforce through the Civil Rights Division. That's from the DOJ press release. Associated Press has a story on it, and doctor Andy Jackson over at the John Locke Foundation has a rundown of how to fix the problems that the Jefferson Griffin race, Griffin Rigs race, and the lawsuits all around that, the problems that that lawsuit exposed. Again, these are choices, right. It's one thing when you don't know about something and it presents itself and you're like, oh my gosh, I had no idea that you know, chickens couldn't fly whatever, like or turkeys. I think it was, yeah, turkeys, but turkeys can kind of fly and chickens can too, just not really long distances, especially if you're like dropping him out of a helicopter or something for a radio stunt. It's not advisable. But once you are aware that the loophole exists, the oversight exists, Oh, we made a mistake in that legislation. Whatever. Once you know the problem exists, then it's a choice. It's a choice whether to continue along the path you are on and allow this problem to exist and fester and get worse, or you can try to address it. You can roll back whatever stupid thing you did. You can plug the loophole with a fix, with some tighter language or something. And in this case, the North Carolina State Board of Elections made choices at every step along the way to not clean up the voter registration rules to make it comply. They were told about this, and they didn't fix it. And now the DOJ is coming in and saying, yeah, you're going to fix it. And now that the Board of Elections is run by a Republican majority, it's going to get fixed. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mount Mountain and Cabins of Ashville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. 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The Department of Justice alleges that North Carolina and the North Carolina Board of Elections are not complying with the two thousand and two Help America Vote Act or have a after board officials provided a statewide voter registration form that did not make it clear that an applicant has to provide must provide a driver's license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number, and if an applicant lacks either of those numbers, then the state has to assign the person another unique voter number. Republicans are now in control as of like two weeks ago of the State Board of Elections. You'll recall because the legislature moved the Board of Election appointment power from the governor to the state Auditor. The state auditor is Dave Bullock. He is a Republican and the problems that have been going on at the Board of Elections the State Board of Elections have persisted for years four years. So the previous board, where Democrats held the majority, acknowledged the problem in late twenty twenty three. According to the Associated Press report by Gary Robertson, they acknowledged the problem only after a voter complained. The board then updated the form, but they declined or refused to contact people who had registered to vote since two thousand and four, So for twenty years people have been voting without an assigned to them. They did not want to contact these people before the twenty twenty four elections so they could fill in the missing numbers. Why why would you not do that? According to the lawsuit, the board indicated that such information would be accumulated on an ad hoc basis as voters appeared at polling places. See, we're gonna save money, how about this, and administrative time and resources. So we're just going to ask people when they show up at the poll, and we'll say, oh, they don't have their numbers, so then we'll ask them for one right then and there. It's unclear exactly how many voters records still lack identifying numbers, though, because apparently that wasn't really happening. Lawyers from the department's Civil Rights Division say that the board must act more aggressively. They want a judge to give the state thirty days to develop a plan to contact the voters with records that do not comply with federal law. You do not comply with federal law. If you don't care about the law and compliance is voluntary, then there's no reason for the law. But it is the law, so follow the freaking law. Board of Elections well prior Board of Elections. The litigation follows similar efforts by the Republican Party and a state GOP candidate to address the registration records for the twenty twenty four election. Again, I point this out, as I did weeks ago or maybe months ago at this point, that this issue was raised prior to the twenty twenty four election and the state Board of Elections did not fix it. This month, the board's composition changed, as I mentioned, to reflect the appointment power being shifted away from the governor and over to the auditor. The new iteration of the board sounds open to embrace the DOJ's wishes. The executive director, Sam Hayes, who is also newly appointed replacing Karen Brinson Bell awful. Sam Hayes said that the lawsuit was being reviewed quote, but the failure to collect the information required by HAVA has been well documented. Rest assured I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with federal law. Local elections, by the way start in September. The state and National GOP last year sued over the lack of identifying numbers, which they estimated could have effected about a quarter of a million registrants, but federal judges declined to make changes because it was too close to the general election. I mean, we can blow up the rules during COVID voting, right, we can do that, so you know, people can harvest votes and do all sorts of crazy stuff during that twenty twenty cycle because COVID, you know, obviously, But if there's an election around the corner, we can't possibly ask people to give us the driver's license which they have to present when they vote. The issue was also litigated after election day as part of formal protests filed by the Republican candidate for the State Supreme Court, Jefferson Griffin. He challenged about sixty thousand ballots that he said were cast by registrants whose records failed to contain one of the two identifying numbers. So we know of at least sixty thousand ballots then, right, that didn't have the numbers that weren't corrected by the county workers at the polling places as they were supposed to have been. But apparently we're not, the election board said earlier this year. At least half of those voters actually did provide an identifying number, probably on a driver's license. Why isn't it in the database? The list maintenance matters people. State appeals courts criticized the board's handling of the registration records, but ruled that the challenged ballots had to remain in the final election tally because those people came and voted, and you can't throw their votes out because of the administrative mistake. Oh isn't that convenient? All right? So spring is here a time of renewal and celebrations. You've got graduations, weddings, anniversaries and the special days for mom and dad. Your family's making memories that are going to last a lifetime. But let me ask you, are all of those treasured moments from days gone by? Are they hidden away on old VCR tapes, eight millimeter films, photos slides? Are they preserved? Because over time, these precious memories can fade and deteriorate losing the magic of yesterday. 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He had to write up a couple of weeks ago actually about the election problems, the list management issues that the State Board of Elections has had for years and that were at least part of the lawsuits that were filed in the wake of the Supreme Court seat race between Alison Riggs, who eventually was named the winner, and Jefferson Griffin, who lost by like seven hundred and thirty five votes. So the new board, Jackson says, is well positioned to correct these problems. Number one, fix the problems of registrations missing the have A numbers. The Help America Vote Act of two thousand and two social security last four of your social security or driver's license number. The have A law prioritizes driver's license numbers to help election officials comply with another part of the law that requires them to match voter records with DMV records. And by the way, they have a Help America Vote Act of two thousand and two for people who weren't alive, weren't paying attention. You know where that came from, right, It came from the two thousand election Bush v. Gore where Al gore the results out of Florida, and they have kept recounting and recounting and recounting, and the paper ballots were disintegrating, and the little you know, chads, the little pieces of paper that you punch out when you mark a ballot, and you would punch out a hole in the ballot, and sometimes it would be hanging. It didn't detach all the way. So now you got these guys that are looking at the chads and oh, it's still hanging. It's a hanging chad. And what is the voter's intent and all of this stupidity, and it was. It was such a farce. The election system in Florida, now, Florida runs one of the best election systems in the country. They get their returns in, they're done before like almost every other state, and they've got multiple time zones. So in cases where applicants do not have a driver's license, elections officials can use their last four of the social or a state issued ID number. North Carolina state law has the same requirement for collecting a driver's license number or a social Security number. Following a series of citizen complaints which revealed that hundreds of thousands of voter registration records lacked these have A numbers, the state Board of Elections agreed to change voter registration forms to indicate that HAVEN numbers are actually required, because if you don't tell people that you have to put your driver's license number on the form, they won't that people do not offer that information up unless it's absolutely required. But they also the board also declined to ask county boards of Elections to make any effort, much less a diligent one, to complete the registration records with missing HAVEN numbers, and that's where you would seek to correct the problem. Right, somebody shows up at the polling station, they don't have the number. Hey, can you correct this? Or even better yet, before the election, reach out to all of these people on your roles that don't have numbers to make matters worse. The State Board of Elections lawyer Paul Cox reported that quote. Some spot checking of registration records found that county election officials had some of the have A numbers, So they did have some, but they were not put into the statewide computerized database. The new spe leadership should instruct county boards to add the have of numbers that they have, put them into the system as quickly as possible, and then to contact those people that don't have the numbers and put them in the records. This is a choice, you can do this. Another option would be for the General Assembly to make provisional the ballots from voters whose records don't have the have of numbers, and then you'll have you'll get them to sign an attestation. You say, I attest I don't have either number. That should be an easy fix in most cases. Since North Carolina requires voter ID, the most common form of voter ID is the driver's license, and then you can collect that information as people come vote. So that's a fixable solution. Number two, require IDs for military and overseas ballots. The former executive director of the State Board of Elections, Karen Brinson Bell. She claimed in August of twenty twenty four that when a military or overseas citizen voter submits their ballot, neither federal nor state law requires them to provide ID when returning their ballot. But the state Supreme Court affirmed the voter ID requirement for military and overseas ballots in a ruling back in April. So the new board must require voter ID for all absentee ballots, including military and overseas, and they have to develop a means a way to attach voter IDs to electronically submitted military and overseas ballots. That's doable. Number three produce ballots that are only for the presidential race and that can only be used for the quote never residents. The never residents. These are people that have never lived in North Carolina but are registered to vote here. Usually it's because they grew up in a foreign country because their parents are stationed there. Or they work there or whatever, and so they just register to vote at their parents' North Carolina address, but they've never lived here. Like that's one example. Somebody who has never set foot in North Carolina has not satisfied the residency requirement of a thirty day requirement that North Carolina has. You have to have lived here for thirty days, and the federal courts have upheld that. So you have to figure something out here. The state Supreme Court ruled that allowing never residents to vote in state elections violated the plain language of Article six, Section two, Dash one of the North Carolina Constitution. So State Board of Elections should quickly issue guidance to county boards of Elections to comply with that ruling as well. See so these are fixes offered up by Andy Jackson. Very helpful. We're all about solutions here, all right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information. You could check it out at check dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link in podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself check dot ground, dot news slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Real quick, a couple of things to be on your radar as we roll into June. The Supreme Court is wrapping up its session and there's a couple of cases that are going to be coming down the pike. The pike, the pipe, I mean, I guess it could be the pike as in the turnpike, which is a weird word on the pipe. Well, anyway. Supreme Court watchers are most eagerly awaiting the Justice's decision on whether a state can ban medical treatment for transgender uths. They say it is the top case of the current term, but other key cases. According to Alex Swawyer at the Washington Times, other key cases include a dispute over books featuring LGBTQ themes in public schools for young students, and a question over age verification requirements for accessing adult websites porn Okay, Most legal experts have their eyes fixed on the one case US versus Scremetti, a case on transgender medical treatments for youths, as the High Court prepares to release its rulings for the current term, which is set to end next month. The Scremetti case involves a Tennessee law that was passed and enacted in twenty three and that bans puberty blockers hormone therapy gender transition for procedures for miners looking to change their birth gender. Scremetti refers to Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scrimetti. He's the ag there, or was. I don't know if he still is. The Biden administration and the ACLU argued that the ban amounted to sex discrimination. See because if I'm a male and I want testosterone, I get it. But if I'm a female and I want testosterone, You're not letting me have it. So that's sex discrimination. That's their argument. Officials representing the state of Tennessee said the law is aimed not at sex but at the use of drugs. They argue that states should be able to regulate the drugs. A federal appellate court rejected the sex discrimination claims and allowed the Tennessee law to take effect, and that prompted the appeal to the US Supreme Court. That's the Scremetti decision. You've got the birthright citizenship. We've covered that in depth as well. The justices are weighing the issue. Also as part of that case, the issue of lower courts nationwide injunctions that block the executive order from taking effect, and whether you know that's appropriate. Kurt Levy, president of the Committee for Justice, said that the transgender case and the birthright citizen issue, over the nationwide injunctions, these are major disputes. They're producing headlines, sure, but he pointed to two other courts cases rather one involves Montgomery County, Maryland Public School System, which has required pre K through elementary school students to attend story time involving LGBTQ themed books. Parents, parents of various faiths, and the ACLU have challenged the school system's receive of the opt out policies for books. In twenty twenty two, the Board of ed in Montgomery County allowed the curriculum to include storybooks that celebrate pronouns, pride parades, and gender transitioning. This is pre K through elementary school. Parents were notified about the new curriculum and told that they could totally opt out your kiddies. The school board removed the notice and the opt out policy the following year, so now you must attend. Parents then sued in federal court over First Amendment concerns and have asked the court to at least require the option. They lost in a lower court, but the Supreme Court now took up their appeal. That case is tamer Machmood versus Thomas W. Taylor. Thomas Taylor is the superintendent of the schools and the fourth case a dispute out of Texes over access to porn sites. A twenty twenty three Texas law requires online adult content providers to implement age verification for accessing their sites. North Carolina did the same thing. When the state enacted the measure, Texas was trying to deter the flow of adult images and materials to anybody under the age of eighteen. A violation of the law could cost a company more than ten grand. Challengers to the law say the age verification requirements such as entering personal information that violates the First Amendment. That case is called the Free Speech Coalition versus Paxton, who was the governor? Free Speech Coalition versus Paxton. And so they are wrapping up their session. It's a twenty twenty four through twenty twenty five session and the justices are expected to announce their decisions by the end of June. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone,