NC Elections Board doing an end run around appeals court? (04-04-2024--Hour3)

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[00:00:27] so much for your support. Alright, so we're about 30 days away here from a runoff election

[00:00:32] there are a couple of them around the state but some of the I guess some of the rules here

[00:00:38] maybe or plans could be changing I'm not really sure why Kevin Lewis is a member of the state

[00:00:45] board of elections welcome to the program sir how are you? I doing well thank you sir for having

[00:00:51] absolutely so first of all can you tell me what right what is going on with the state board

[00:00:58] of elections and the elections director Karen Brinson Bell chain there's some sort of a change in

[00:01:03] the what timeline of when early voting plans are supposed to be established.

[00:01:11] Yes that's some news that has come out earlier this week

[00:01:17] and it really doesn't affect the upcoming second primary but historically counties

[00:01:25] have met and approved their early voting plans by early August

[00:01:31] and in fact the state board advertises that as a best practice

[00:01:37] it advertises that the early voting plans for the fall should be due on August 2nd

[00:01:44] and now all of a sudden they want them to be about three months early and so it's a little

[00:01:50] bit concerning. So what are early voting plans let me start there? Well I can tell you my

[00:01:57] background is I've been a member I was a member the Nash County Board of Elections for about

[00:02:03] 16 years I've only been on the state board for a little under a year and what under the existing law

[00:02:11] what the county boards do is they meet and they determine how many different early voting

[00:02:18] locations do we need and how many can we afford to fund and what facilities are available

[00:02:25] and what hours do we need to operate them and so the county will vote on a plan and if it's a

[00:02:32] unanimous plan then that will be the county's plan but if it's if it's a dispute and it's non-unanimous

[00:02:40] then it falls to the state board to adopt a plan for that county. Are those plans?

[00:02:46] Does it normally go pretty smoothly? Are they usually unanimous? Do you know?

[00:02:51] Well for many years in my experience we were unanimous in my county in Nash County

[00:02:58] the last couple of elections though we did kind of hit a bump and it all seems to boil down to

[00:03:06] whether or not you're going to have Sunday voting and some of the other board members decided

[00:03:13] that it was going to be Sunday voting or not we're not going to prove it without Sunday voting and so

[00:03:22] we started having to go to the state board of elections and of course the state board of elections

[00:03:26] made the decision for us. All right so now you've got the state telling these county boards of

[00:03:34] elections to draw up their plans three months earlier than they normally would you mentioned

[00:03:41] that it's normally what in August that these things are done but now I guess what is that August?

[00:03:46] Now they wanted an early May. Early May so does that have any kind of impact as to when

[00:03:52] like the fiscal year begins is there any kind of problem with that timing?

[00:03:57] Well it could very well be the you know of course the county fiscal year

[00:04:04] starts generally July 1st and so now counties are being asked to select locations and

[00:04:13] provide staff at these locations with money that they don't know if they're going to have a

[00:04:20] so that could be a problem. What about the isn't the makeup of the boards of elections changing?

[00:04:29] Aren't they changing? Well that's the possibility that you know the legislature enacted

[00:04:37] last year a bipartisan board of elections you know right now we have a five member board that is

[00:04:45] three members of the governor's party and then two members of the minority party.

[00:04:51] So we have a five member board under the law that was enacted last year

[00:04:56] it's going to be a eight member board which would be four members of each party,

[00:05:02] each of the two main parties for Democrats and for Republicans. The courts have put down on hold

[00:05:08] and it's my understanding that that's on appeal and it'll be decided by our pellet courts.

[00:05:14] You know sometime in the future now well it ought to be decided you know in the next couple of months

[00:05:20] or six months from now I don't know but yeah that is top then that's into works.

[00:05:27] So if I'm trying to kind of think through the timeline here if

[00:05:32] if they fast forward these early voting plans they get to do it before any potential shake up

[00:05:41] in the composition of the boards that might otherwise I don't know alter the votes on those plans

[00:05:50] right? I mean like you said yeah that's seems like it could be.

[00:05:55] Right because I asked about whether or not the plans are you know normally unanimous you said

[00:06:01] usually they are but recently not so much and it was over the Sunday voting so if you have

[00:06:06] that same sort of a disagreement at a local level but now the plans are forced into development

[00:06:13] three months earlier now they would still the Democrats would still control at the local level and

[00:06:19] at the state level right? The adoption of those plans. That is correct and you know there's some

[00:06:25] speculation as to that may be one of the reasons why they're trying to avoid what was previously

[00:06:33] a best practice and speed it up so that somebody can have an advantage. No way that would be

[00:06:43] that would be absolutely shocking to me. I hate to be cynical because I think you know to me part

[00:06:50] of my job as a state board member and I consider this to be part of my job when I was a county

[00:06:58] board member is to promote you know confidence in the integrity of our election system and so

[00:07:06] it is disappointing when actions are perceived to be partisan when we really need to be either non-partisan

[00:07:15] or bipartisan in administering elections. Is there any other explanation though for why the plans

[00:07:22] would be pushed up three months? Why why this action would be taken? Is there is there is there

[00:07:28] another alternative explanation that's been offered to you? Not that has been offered to me but

[00:07:33] you know this has just come about so maybe more will will be revealed. That's kind of odd though if

[00:07:42] there's not even sort of an explanation for for the accelerated timeline when it was when it was

[00:07:48] adopted. Yeah the board is meeting next week on another matter so maybe like say more will be

[00:07:56] revealed at that time. Yeah interesting okay is there anything else that you think is important

[00:08:01] or interesting on this that we haven't already covered that you want people to know? No I just

[00:08:07] want to say that I'm a strong believer that we have a great elections process in North Carolina

[00:08:16] from my experience on the county level I have great confidence in that our personnel and so

[00:08:24] you know you really don't have to be in my opinion worried about all we doing what's best for

[00:08:29] the citizens in North Carolina. Kevin Lewis board member on the state board of elections thanks for

[00:08:34] your time sir we appreciate it. All right thank you sir have a good afternoon. You too take care

[00:08:39] thank you for your time I appreciate it and that's Kevin Lewis. All right so I want to make sure

[00:08:44] that you understand sort of the the timing of this and I'm just kind of figuring all of this out

[00:08:50] after talking to Mr. Lewis there from the state board of elections. The counties have to develop

[00:08:56] their early voting plans. The early voting plans are right what facilities are open, what days,

[00:09:03] the hours okay so the counties put together the plans they vote on them if there's a disagreement

[00:09:10] then it would go to the state board for resolution. State board of elections

[00:09:19] is now telling the local boards do your plans three months earlier than you normally do

[00:09:28] and the cynic in me says the reason why they're doing that is to try to get in front of

[00:09:32] the court of appeals taking up this litigation over Senate bill 749 which changes the composition

[00:09:43] of the state board of elections right because think about it if there's a if there's a plan

[00:09:49] from from a county that changes the early voting days and hours locations whatever and it's

[00:09:56] and it's not agreed upon then it gets kicked up to the state level. Under the new law

[00:10:03] that's being litigated under that new law you could end up with a a plan that does not meet

[00:10:13] Democrats approval for whatever reason and if it's the Sunday voting component or the hours or

[00:10:18] whatever I don't know but they want to be able to control essentially the verdicts on the

[00:10:26] local plans and if the court of appeals rules that the state law Senate bill 749 if this if the

[00:10:33] court of appeal says no the law is fine it can go into effect then that means that Republicans

[00:10:41] might have a chance to affect the outcome on some of some of these local plan decisions so rather

[00:10:49] than let Republicans have any kind of say in that outcome in those verdicts they're telling all

[00:10:56] of the local county boards to do it faster do their plans faster so this way they can they can

[00:11:04] rush through the approval process and anything that gets challenged and goes to the state

[00:11:11] Democrat the Democrat majority on the board of elections would still be able to control the

[00:11:16] outcome because they control the board whereas under the new state law they would not control

[00:11:21] the board it would be an even split and if if there's even split

[00:11:28] right then I don't remember it's been a while since I read the law I forget what

[00:11:32] I think there's a process there but yeah forget um

[00:11:36] you make make it kicked over to the general assembly or something but Democrats lose control

[00:11:42] over the rulings and that's what they're trying to do an end run around right now

[00:11:48] I mean that's to me that's the obvious thing here right I mean given Roy Cooper and Karen

[00:11:55] Brinson Bell and the Democrats you know the lawyers the activist crowd that keeps sewing over all of

[00:12:03] this stuff given their behavior over the last four years at least it's they don't get the benefit

[00:12:11] of the doubt from me anymore at least not from me so the fact that Mr. Lewis was not provided any

[00:12:18] kind of an explanation for why they're accelerating this timeline that's odd there's not even a

[00:12:25] cover story and I didn't want to put them on the spot by saying it like that but there isn't

[00:12:28] there's no cover story here is there what's the cover story why do you need them three months

[00:12:32] earlier than normal except to try to get ahead of any kind of court of appeals ruling to me that's

[00:12:40] pretty obvious but what do I know like I'm just a little old radio host you know just trying to

[00:12:48] make my way in the world okay if you're listening to this podcast you are obviously paying attention

[00:12:53] to the world around us you also have really great taste I might add but if you haven't started

[00:12:58] getting prepared for various emergencies I got to ask what are you waiting for please call my friends

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[00:13:19] let's put those smarts into action go to Carolina readiness dot com that's Carolina readiness dot com or

[00:13:26] call them at eight to eight two two six seventy two thirty nine Carolina readiness supply has two

[00:13:32] thousand square feet of supplies as well as educational materials that you're going to need for

[00:13:36] any kind of emergency veteran owned Carolina readiness supply will you be ready when the lights go

[00:13:43] well in the lines of the election this piece was published about two weeks ago actually

[00:13:50] by Laura Leslie at WRAL left this mouthpiece that outlet is more than sixteen hundred ballots

[00:14:01] were thrown out in the march fifth primary

[00:14:11] see when you just say it like that obviously with the sound bite too uh it makes it sound terrible

[00:14:16] sixteen hundred ballots were thrown out oh disenfranchisement right suppression suppression

[00:14:25] this was the I don't know why I go fiddler on the roof with that I don't even remember the play

[00:14:30] all right uh this was the first statewide election since 2014 to require voter ID

[00:14:36] due to a court ruling that enacted the law after a long legal battle which is so okay this

[00:14:43] is a very awkwardly written sentence Laura Leslie has been a journalismer for a very long time like

[00:14:51] decades okay you can't tell me that you haven't figured out how to write this kind of a sentence

[00:14:57] right the first statewide election since 2014 to require voter ID after court allowed it to stay

[00:15:07] in place court allowed the law to take effect or whatever but no she's going to say due to a court

[00:15:11] ruling that enacted the law well the court ruling did not enact the law the legislature enacted the

[00:15:17] law right the court ruling blocked it and then stopped blocking it that's right the enacting of

[00:15:26] the law is not what the court does okay anyway um as well as the first to implement a tighter deadline

[00:15:33] for mail-in ballots right so this was the outrage last time around because the republican legislature

[00:15:40] said hey you know what for a long time the absentee ballots were supposed to be um you know

[00:15:47] that we didn't count them if they arrived after election day and then at some point along the line

[00:15:53] a couple of years ago they changed the rules to allow for absentee ballots mail-in ballots to

[00:15:59] be counted even if they arrived after election day but as long as they were postmarked before

[00:16:04] election day or on election day or as long as they had a postmark that that got them you know

[00:16:10] the postmark was election day or earlier than we counted them but that meant that you had these

[00:16:16] days after the election where ballots were still coming in and vote totals were still being changed

[00:16:23] and so they said you know what it's really it doesn't help instill confidence in the system

[00:16:29] so why don't we go ahead and go back to the way it was which was the votes have to be

[00:16:34] at the board of elections by the close of the polls on election day

[00:16:39] so they can be counted with all of the other ballots and outrage ensued

[00:16:45] suppression suppression there it is again how dare you right of course they never want to

[00:16:53] and the people who were opposed to this going back to the way it was the change in other words

[00:16:57] democrats and media but I repeat myself uh the the uh those proponents or opponents I guess

[00:17:04] they would be they never talked about the most recent example of why the post marks

[00:17:11] present problems which was sherry bsley not her senate run that she lost but her re-election

[00:17:21] to the state supreme court that she also lost but she lost that one by very few votes like several

[00:17:28] hundred votes out of you know a couple hundred thousand that were cast maybe even more than a

[00:17:35] million I forget what the yeah I forget what the vote totals were but it was a very close race

[00:17:39] Paul newbie beat her and beat her by several hundred votes and it came down to what votes they were

[00:17:46] going to count in certain districts and counties and she had filed you know some petitions in certain

[00:17:52] counties he filed petitions in other counties whatever and one of the arguments that her lawyers made

[00:17:59] was that these ballots had arrived and some of them did not have post marks that were distinguishable

[00:18:05] and her lawyers said it really doesn't matter as long as they got there right so this is

[00:18:11] this is how they do you right like this is why you can't trust these lawyers and you know when

[00:18:19] they're making these arguments about oh yeah we want to be able to make sure everybody's vote counts

[00:18:24] not everybody's vote but you know the votes we like we want those to count and what you're when

[00:18:31] you outline a standard that says we want of the post marks to control right we want post marks on

[00:18:38] these ballots that'll be the controlling standard but then when push comes to shove and you're within

[00:18:45] a couple hundred votes that you're trying to find in a couple counties now you want to just ignore

[00:18:50] that controlling standard now it's not a controlling standard anymore right now it's like well you

[00:18:56] know the post office just must have forgotten to stamp that batch or something they start figuring out

[00:19:03] all these ways to make excuses for why the controlling standard that they wanted in place now

[00:19:09] shouldn't be the controlling standard which is why again given what I've seen of your behavior over

[00:19:15] the past decade now since y'all lost control you have not handled it well in North Carolina you

[00:19:21] Democrats and media but I repeat myself you have not handled it well since Republicans took control

[00:19:25] of the state legislature in 2010 so because I've been watching that I don't believe you okay when you

[00:19:32] make these arguments I don't believe you I don't think you're arguing in good faith now you can

[00:19:37] say that the Republicans are not either okay you can make that argument all day

[00:19:42] I'm making the argument that you're not arguing in good faith there you go so we're even okay until

[00:19:49] 2023 mail-in ballots in North Carolina that were postmarked by election day were accepted via mail

[00:19:55] delivery until the following Friday three days later the grace period was intended to offset possible

[00:20:01] delays in mail processing but at 2023 last year Republicans say lawmakers authored several changes

[00:20:07] to election laws in the name of election integrity one of those changes did away with the three day

[00:20:13] grace period setting 7 30 p.m. on election day as the new deadline okay so this last election the

[00:20:20] primary that we just went through this was the first time we went we did an election with these rules

[00:20:25] right we had the voter ID and we had the 7 30 deadline on election day according to data from

[00:20:32] the state board of elections 1100 ballots were rejected in the primary because they were received

[00:20:40] after that deadline that is an increase of 324 over the 2020 primary so 2020 there were 800

[00:20:50] ballots that got rejected because they arrived after the grace period which was three extra days

[00:20:58] right so wait a minute okay so right so you had three extra days after the election to get your

[00:21:04] ballot in and then there were then 800 after those were rejected so people were still so how many came

[00:21:13] in in the three day grace period that's what I would like to know how many ballots came in during

[00:21:17] that three day grace period is it somewhere in the neighborhood of about 300 because that would

[00:21:21] put you at about the same number would it not Brent woodcocks the one of the staffers for

[00:21:27] Senate leader Phil burger and the set or not well for he's with the burger camp but he's a lawyer

[00:21:33] and he does some work for the Senate on the Republican side Senate leadership and um

[00:21:39] you know he framed it as 99.9% of all ballots were accepted

[00:21:43] and that's true too right the vast majority of the ballots 99.99% of them were accepted no problem

[00:21:52] whatsoever there were millions of ballots cast and this is 1600 that were rejected for problems they

[00:21:59] could not cure quote unquote the problems see it's all in how you uh spin it thank you for the emails

[00:22:09] and the phone calls um we were looking it up during the break we found out where the vice president is

[00:22:16] appearing it is at the Naomi Drennan Center it is off Wendover Road which amazing as I lived over there

[00:22:25] for like about five years never knew it was there I had no idea there was a park over there

[00:22:33] if you're going out Wendover Road it's before the Home Depot and the restore

[00:22:38] before you get to Monroe Road it's on the right hand side same side of the road as um

[00:22:42] um the Home Depot is on and there's like that apartment complex that's right there

[00:22:48] and there's like apparently some park that's back there too and there's a rec center there's a

[00:22:51] skateboard park and so I guess she's going to be doing some alleys or something at the skateboard park

[00:22:57] um

[00:23:00] between yeah between uh it's past Randall Frode and before Monroe Road there you go

[00:23:04] um let me see here over uh leave it to a leftist not to know that the courts don't enact laws

[00:23:12] that's well yeah that's that's true um so get this over half of Gen Z diners don't think that

[00:23:22] so that's not like a place it's not like Gen Z restaurants it's it's Gen Zs who are dining okay

[00:23:31] over half of Gen Z people who are dining do not think that table etiquette is relevant

[00:23:39] anymore this according to a survey by a restaurant group called Prezzo uh the survey uh

[00:23:46] believe out of Britain found that 77% of Gen Z diners do not care if people put their elbows on

[00:23:55] the table I gotta tell you I'm kind of a Gen Z uh at heart on this one it really does not matter

[00:24:05] to me it doesn't bother me in fact sometimes it's essential if you're eating like a very large sandwich

[00:24:12] right and the tables are low I think this matters too yeah there's a whole science behind

[00:24:18] table heights chair heights all sorts of you know because I mean think about it you go to a fast

[00:24:23] food joint and the tables and chairs are not very comfortable why they don't want you hanging out

[00:24:28] there you're just gonna cause trouble right so get your food eat it get out that's right but now

[00:24:35] if you go to a fancier place right comfortable chairs higher backs higher table that kind of thing

[00:24:42] so it's harder to get your elbows up onto that table so um 60% though couldn't care less about

[00:24:50] how somebody holds their silverware I'm not a big I don't I don't watch people on that one um

[00:24:57] half of the British diners asked said they are upset about the lack of table manners though

[00:25:02] so half of the people are like oh this anger's me yet on the other hand like a lot of them don't

[00:25:06] care about their own table manners which is I think part of the problem

[00:25:13] 49% of people asked say that they would not date somebody who had bad table manners

[00:25:20] 48% of people were irked by loud chewing yeah yeah that's yeah

[00:25:28] 37% are annoyed when people use their food at the table I guess play with their food

[00:25:34] and one of them I not that I play with my food I get annoyed with people who do that yeah

[00:25:39] especially children oh my gosh they're always playing

[00:25:43] um

[00:25:46] and another 37% hated when people ate off of other people's plates without asking

[00:25:53] I think that's different if it's if it's your spouse or significant other or whatever

[00:25:59] I don't I have no problem with that now if I'm not related to you or I didn't marry you

[00:26:07] I take it back if I didn't marry you or you're not my child you don't eat off my plate actually

[00:26:12] take it back only christie gets to eat off my plate that's it there's nobody else that would

[00:26:17] like you're gonna get a fork in your hand you know um more than half of survey participants also

[00:26:23] hated it when people talk with food in their mouths yeah that I do not like that either um or

[00:26:29] if they're very loud yeah I'm one of those two I think apparently I get annoyed at a lot of people's

[00:26:35] table behavior uh and then there's this who's people who snapped their fingers at servers

[00:26:40] who the hell does that who does that anymore my god like that's same people who leave their shopping

[00:26:47] cards outside the corrals in the park and my problem all right that'll do it for this episode

[00:26:52] thank you so much for listening I could not do the show without your support and the support of

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