NC Elections Director caught rigging ballot process (09-10-2024--Hour3)

[00:00:01] Show.

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on?

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[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: So the North Carolina, actually let me do this.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna read the tweet from Anderson Clayton

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: who is the 12 year old who is in charge

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: She's like 13.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, the GOP majority

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: on the North Carolina Supreme Court voted today

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: in another unprecedented decision

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: to cost the taxpayers of North Carolina millions

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: of dollars by ordering the State Board of Elections

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: to remove RFK Jr. from the ballot and reprint ballots

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: without justification it is an abuse of power.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Without justification she says.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so let me jump over here to the actual order.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe, hang on a second,

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Bill sent me the link to the order.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate that Bill.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Or sorry, yeah, or the pages here.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I had not had a chance to read this

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: but I'm looking through it.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And on page four of the 46 page ruling,

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: here's what it says.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: General statute requires the State Board

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: to promulgate rules for the reprinting of ballots

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: quote where practical in response

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: to replacement candidates or other late changes.

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: We are unpersuaded by the practical objections

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: defendants, the Board of Elections

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: raise in their submissions to this court.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: To a large extent any harm suffered by the defendants

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: in light of the Court of Appeals order

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: is of their own making.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: It's of their own making.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: What are they saying there?

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: That whatever the costs are here

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and all the problems that you're now saying,

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: well, we're not gonna be able to print the ballots

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: until the September 21st is the earliest

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: you're gonna get these.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So we may not meet the federal deadline.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: This is of your own making they're saying.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: To a large extent any harm suffered

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: is by their own making.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Indeed, the defendant, Karen Brinson Bell,

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: the executive director of the State Board of Elections

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: candidly admitted that she was aware on Friday

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: August 23rd that the plaintiff, R.F.K. Junior,

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: had suspended his campaign and intended to remove

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: his name from ballots in battleground states.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So she knew this.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: The executive director of the Board of Elections

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: knew when R.F.K. Junior did the speech,

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: when he made the announcement.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: He did the press conference.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: She knew that.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: She admitted that.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Additionally, a representative of R.F.K. Junior's

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: campaign emailed the State Board of Elections

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: that day to inquire about removing his name

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: from the ballots, putting the State Board on notice

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: that R.F.K. intended to remove his name.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Rather than following up with him

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: or the party, the We the People Party,

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Bell instructed the county boards of election

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: to continue the ballot preparation process

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: which they then did over the weekend.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So remember, R.F.K. Junior comes out and says,

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm dropping out, gonna ask for my name to be removed.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: A member of his campaign sends notice

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: to the Board of Elections in North Carolina

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and our executive director, a Democrat, does what?

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: She ignores it and she instructs the counties,

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: go ahead and print the ballots.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: By Monday, three days later, after the weekend,

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: R.F.K. Junior contacts the State Board

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: regarding the process for withdrawing.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Nevertheless, the State Board still did not instruct

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: the county boards to pause ballot preparation.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Tuesday, State Board receives his formal withdrawal

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: request but gave no further instructions

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: other than stating that they needed

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: to submit a formal withdrawal request.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: They received one.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And then, perhaps most strikingly, the court said,

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: after the State Board received the formal withdrawal request

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: on Wednesday the 28th and scheduled

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: an emergency board meeting,

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Director Bell instructed the county boards

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: to continue printing the ballots.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: They could have stopped this over the course of a week,

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: almost a full week they had,

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: but she just kept on printing.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So she can make this argument now.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So she could then go to the Board of Elections

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and say, we've already printed so many ballots,

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: we can't possibly turn back now.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you had all these different off ramps

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: along the way, why didn't you take any of them?

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Why didn't you pause?

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: You saw the press conference.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, I saw the press conference.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I knew he was gonna be taking his name off.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: He was gonna...

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Well then, why did you move forward

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: with the printing of the ballots?

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: When his campaign contacted you, why didn't you pause?

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Why instead did you say go print more?

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Keep printing, keep printing.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: At every single decision point, she kept printing.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: When the State Board held its emergency meeting

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: on Thursday the 29th, it voted three to two,

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: saying that removing his name would not be practical.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Because they printed so many ballots.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: You might call it rigged.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: This was rigged.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is precisely what RFK Jr. was talking about

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: in that speech.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Trying to get on the ballot in states,

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: well first trying to run in the Democrat primary

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: against Joe Biden and the Democrats stiff-armed him.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They thwarted, they rigged the Democrat primary

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: so Biden wouldn't get a challenge.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: They ran a protection racket for him.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And then when the debate performance was what it was,

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: then it was swap him out for Kamala

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and still trying to keep RFK off the ballot,

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: make him spend millions and millions of dollars,

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: smear him every which way.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And then Kamala gets in and now RFK's like,

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: we're not gonna be able to win anymore.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Polling has shifted.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So now we need to come off the ballot

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: so we don't act as a spoiler.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And now the Democrats are like,

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: oh no, no, you gotta stay.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: You gotta stay on the ballot.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Back to the court opinion.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Thus despite being on notice

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: of the plaintiff's intention

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: to withdraw his name from the ballot for nearly a week,

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: the state board was directing the county boards

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: to continue ballot production,

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: including over the weekend.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Like working overtime

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: to get as many of these things printed as possible.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Rather than communicating and cooperating forthrightly

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: with the plaintiff and the We the People party.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: We declined to grant defendants,

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: the board of elections extraordinary relief

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: when they are responsible for their own predicament.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: We also note that the defendant, Karen Brinson Bell,

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: is it Karen or Kristen?

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Karen, yeah, Karen.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: She indicated in her affidavit

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: that ballot content was not finalized

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: until at earliest August 21st.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: She stated that for a handful of ballot styles,

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: parties had until August 22nd

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: to fill nomination vacancies.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, by the time the plaintiff

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: had announced the suspension of his campaign on the 23rd

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and his intention to remove his name from the ballots

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00]: in battleground states,

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: the ballot preparation was in its infant stages.

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_00]: At this time, the state board could have communicated

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: with the plaintiff or the We the People party

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: to clarify his intentions before ballot production

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: had progressed too far.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet as noted, the defendant Bell and the state board

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: forged ahead and directed county boards

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: to continue ballot preparation.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_00]: The state board's substantial harm arguments

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_00]: thus ring hollow.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: We acknowledge, they said, that expediting the process,

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_00]: printing the new ballots,

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: is gonna require time and effort and expense,

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but that is a price the North Carolina Constitution

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: expects us to incur to protect voters' fundamental right

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: to vote their conscience and have that vote count.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And that, of course, has drawn howls of protest

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00]: from Democrats who are like,

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: how is that protecting our fundamental right to vote

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: when we're getting fewer choices on the ballot?

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, well, because the man said,

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: take my name off the ballot.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you cast a vote for him,

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: then he's not going to be able to win

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: because he has suspended his campaign.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Make your vote count.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And before he died, my mom and my dad

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and all of us really helped take care of him

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: as he got progressively worse.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: 40 years ago, there were no treatments

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and not much support for caregivers and family.

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Things are different today because of the work

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_00]: of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: of Western North Carolina.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a great organization with awesome people.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got huge hearts.

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been a supporter for like 25 years.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: This cause means a lot to me.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and I am leading a Charlotte team this year.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It's called Pete's Pack.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_00]: You can sign up and join the team and walk with me.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: It's on October 19th at Truist Field in Uptown.

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Sign up at alz.org slash walk

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and then just look for my team, Pete's Pack.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's also a link in the podcast description here.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Also I'm going to be MCing the Gastonia walk

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: on October 5th.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: So make a team and join us

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: or make a donation to help me hit my goal.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I would really appreciate it.

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a bunch of other walks around the Carolinas

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and you can go to alz.org

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: for all of the dates and locations.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_00]: We are closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and if you can help us get there,

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: we would really appreciate it.

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Will you come walk with me for a different future,

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_00]: for families, for more time, for treatments?

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: This is why I walk.

[00:11:12] All right.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me think.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I left off here at the Supreme Court ruling

[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_00]: on the board of elections.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the ruling on the board of elections

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: saying that they have to

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: stop printing the ballots

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and take RFK Jr's name off the ballot.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, Democrats are outraged

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: because they know that that's going to help Donald Trump

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: secure some extra votes

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00]: that otherwise would have gone to RFK

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_00]: had he remained on the ballot,

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: which is why they fought so hard.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not fighting for RFK to be on the ballot.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't want him on the ballot.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't want him on the ballot for the last year.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Now all of a sudden they're like,

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: no, no, we asked to stay on the ballot for democracy.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: No, of course not.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: They want him on the ballot

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: because they think he's going to pull votes from Trump.

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why it went all the way

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_00]: to the state Supreme Court here

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_00]: is because the state board of elections

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_00]: refused to stop printing

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: when they were told by RFK at the announcement

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and then by his staff and then by him

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and then with the paperwork

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_00]: over the course of four or five days,

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: the campaign kept telling the board of elections here,

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: we don't want to be on the ballot.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: We're taking our name off the ballot.

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Take us off the ballot.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And the board of elections and the director

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: kept telling counties print more.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Come in on the weekend, keep printing,

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_00]: keep printing, keep printing.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And then when it came to the board of elections meeting,

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: they said, well, we've printed so many ballots already.

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Can't possibly turn back now.

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And so the Supreme Court saw through

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: what the elections director did, Karen Brinson Bell.

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00]: They saw through it.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: They understand the game that is being played right now,

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_00]: the rigging of the process.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And this has been the hallmark

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: of Karen Brinson Bell's tenure

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_00]: as our executive director of the board of elections.

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's precisely why Cooper put her there.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: That's why Cooper and the board of elections

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_00]: removed the previous one.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00]: You remember who was running the board of elections

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: before Brinson Bell got the gig?

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Actually, there was somebody else there briefly

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and he had a bit of,

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was like zipper issues or something.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, he had to leave.

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And no, the one that was in office

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_00]: when Cooper took over,

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: the one that was running the board of elections

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_00]: at the time was Kimberly Strack.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Remember that name?

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_00]: She was the investigator.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: She was a former investigator for the board of elections.

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And she was the one who was taking down

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: all of these prominent politicians

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: for various corruption issues.

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So she couldn't stay in the job.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Pat McCrory put her in there.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_00]: She couldn't keep that job.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course not.

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_00]: She took out,

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I believe she was the one that helped take down Jim Black.

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I may be, I don't know.

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: There were so many corrupt Democrats at the time.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm dating myself here.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So I may put a couple in her column that don't belong there

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and I may omit some,

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: but just off the top of my head, let me see here.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see, was there Frank Balance?

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_00]: There was Meg Scott Phipps.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: There was Jim Black.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned Mike Easley, I believe was another one.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there's just a whole slew of these people.

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, John Edwards, I think was part of it.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_00]: She was an investigator

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_00]: so she would go through all of the election campaign

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_00]: finance forms and such.

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And they did not want her to stay.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So they forced her out and they put in this hack.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And she's the one that entered

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_00]: into the collusive settlement

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: with the various nonprofits on the left

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_00]: that sued during COVID.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_00]: We got to have all these special relaxation rules

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_00]: for the collection of ballots

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and the mailing of the ballots

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and gotta get rid of all the ID requirements

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and witness requirements and all of this stuff.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And the state legislature said, no, you can't do that.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_00]: They passed laws against it.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: The board of elections then entered into an agreement,

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: a collusive agreement.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They entered in with the plaintiffs.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00]: So this way the plaintiffs get what they want

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and the lawsuit goes away.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why the legislature came back

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and said no more collusive agreements like that.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And they banned those too.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, real quick,

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_00]: let me introduce you to my friends,

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Gabriel and Michelle, two lifelong North Carolinians

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: who are passionate about everything North Carolina.

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_00]: They own Simply NC Goods,

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_00]: which is a curated box service

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: of only North Carolina made items,

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_00]: food, beverages, home decor, skincare, artwork,

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_00]: pretty much anything NC.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And time's running out to get the holiday themed box.

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_00]: So order before October 15th.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: These boxes make great gifts for friends and family,

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_00]: even yourself, you can do that.

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_00]: House warmings, birthdays, Christmas, host gifts,

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_00]: grab some extra ones,

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_00]: have on hand for when you need a quick gift.

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Support small North Carolina businesses the easy way.

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Visit simplyncgoods.com slash Pete

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and check out the various sizes,

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_00]: especially the jumbo box just for the holidays.

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00]: That's simplyncgoods.com slash Pete.

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_00]: If you have a heart and the desire,

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: come join me on the Alzheimer's walk to end Alzheimer's.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm leading a Charlotte team at Truist Field.

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: That's October 19th in Gastonia.

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm actually gonna be emceeing that walk.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_00]: You can get all the details

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_00]: by going to the website alz.org slash walk,

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_00]: and then do a search for my team name, Pete's Pack,

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_00]: or just go to the podcast.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I've got the link in the description here

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: on the podcast.

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Alrighty, so yesterday,

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I was over at the W-R-A-L website.

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I visited, so you don't have to.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Save your clicks, okay?

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And W-R-A-L is sort of the 800 pound gorilla

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_00]: when it comes to North Carolina political media coverage.

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: They got a bunch of staffers that cover the Capitol,

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and they put out a story based on a survey,

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_00]: based on a poll that they sent out into the field.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And I always recall what Rush Limbaugh would talk about.

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Like these polls that are put out by media companies,

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00]: they're made to generate news.

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Like that's the intention,

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_00]: is to tell you what everybody's thinking

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_00]: so you know what to think.

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It's to sway public opinion.

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just measuring,

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: because if the polling comes out

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and it says something that would horrify them,

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_00]: they're not gonna publish it.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things I have noticed about W-R-A-L

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00]: over the last, I don't know, couple years,

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanna say,

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_00]: they're not posting links to their polls anymore.

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I recall them doing so in the past,

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_00]: but for some reason, they don't do that anymore.

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't do it in this story,

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and they didn't do it in another story

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: that they wrote based on the same poll that was sent out,

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_00]: but they asked different questions.

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: They did one on presidential preferences,

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and this one was on the private school

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: voucher expansion,

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_00]: because as I went over yesterday,

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the state legislature is moving forward

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_00]: with its budget update.

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00]: The Senate approved it yesterday,

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: it had a bunch of other provisions in it.

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_00]: They called it the mini budget,

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_00]: but essentially, it's the budget agreement

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_00]: for the second year of a two-year budget cycle,

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_00]: where they make changes here and there.

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Yesterday was the Senate vote,

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_00]: tomorrow will be the House vote,

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and one of the provisions in this mini budget

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_00]: is an expansion of funding

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_00]: for the opportunity scholarship program,

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_00]: because there's a huge backlog of parents

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_00]: trying to take advantage of the vouchers,

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_00]: because the legislature opened the vouchers up

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_00]: to all income groups.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It started off as just a voucher program for the poor,

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and once they had,

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_00]: they have filled all those requests.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: They get first shot.

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_00]: The people in the lower,

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: there's four different tiers,

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_00]: people in the lowest tier economically,

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_00]: they get all of the voucher money first.

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_00]: If there's any leftover,

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_00]: then they go up to the third tier.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Then they'll go up to the second tier

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_00]: if there's any leftover,

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and then into the first tier.

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And you get progressively less amount of,

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_00]: lower amount of money as you move up the tiers.

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you are a wealthy family

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: sending your kids to private school,

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and now you want the voucher,

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_00]: you're not gonna get a $7,000 voucher.

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna get at most like a $3,200 voucher,

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: not the $7,500 voucher.

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_00]: People in the lowest tier, lowest economic tier,

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_00]: they get the full amount.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's a progressive tiered system.

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So WRAL puts a poll out,

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and here is the headline.

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Most NC adults don't support

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_00]: private school voucher expansion.

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Most adults don't support

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: private school voucher expansion.

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So here's another way that I would have phrased it,

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: which is that 77% of North Carolina adults

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00]: support vouchers,

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: because that's what the survey also found.

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But they didn't frame it like that.

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And they didn't even tell us in this story,

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and I can't go and look at the cross tabs,

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't look at the questions,

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't do any kind of examination

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: of the original source material.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't look at it because they didn't give it to us.

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_00]: All they did is give us a story

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00]: about what they want me to think about their poll.

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And what they want me to think about their poll

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_00]: is that opponents of private school voucher expansion

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_00]: outweigh supporters.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So expanding the voucher program is not as popular

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_00]: as keeping it as it is or reducing it.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The poll was conducted by SurveyUSA,

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_00]: it asked 900 adults, so these aren't even voters.

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_00]: These aren't even registered voters,

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00]: let alone likely voters, they're just adults.

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_00]: They asked them about the nearly $300 million

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_00]: planned spending on vouchers for this year,

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: which is now available to any family in the state

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_00]: after lawmakers lifted an income eligibility cap

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and made current private school families eligible.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_00]: What was the question they asked?

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_00]: They say the poll asked if the state should spend more,

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_00]: the same, less or none of the money in the future.

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know if you told these adults

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_00]: before you asked them the question,

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_00]: what's the current per pupil expenditure?

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_00]: What do we currently spend on the vouchers?

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_00]: What was the lead in?

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Did you just ask them something like,

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: hey, should we spend more money for vouchers?

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Was that the extent of the question?

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Because they have it broken down

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: into five different categories of responses.

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_00]: One was, yes, spend more money.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_00]: The other was, no, we're spending

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_00]: the right amount of money right now.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_00]: The next was, we should spend less

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: than the 300 million figure.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Another was that we shouldn't be spending any money.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And then 21% said they weren't sure.

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So there are problems with these responses

[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_00]: because when it says the state should spend

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_00]: less than the nearly 300 million figure,

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_00]: well, what is the figure?

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it zero?

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Because that indicates that they don't necessarily

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_00]: object to the voucher program.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: The only ones that object to the voucher program,

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_00]: they would be reflected in the 22% that said

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: the state shouldn't spend any money

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: on these private school vouchers.

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_00]: 22%, which means what?

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_00]: 77%, that's all the rest of them,

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_00]: even the not sure's because they didn't say,

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: no, stop spending money on the program.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody else was fine with the program.

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_00]: But WREL doesn't want you to,

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_00]: they don't want you coming away from this poll

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_00]: thinking that.

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_00]: They want you to think we shouldn't spend

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: more money on the vouchers.

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet they don't know the 19% that said

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_00]: the state should spend less than the nearly 300 million figure.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, is it 200 million?

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Would they say yes if it was 200 million?

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Would they say yes if it's 100 million?

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_00]: 50 million?

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Any more?

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_00]: 21% said 300 million is the right amount of money.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_00]: 300 million is the right amount of money.

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_00]: 16% say more money should be spent on the program.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So you add those together

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and you're at 37%.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_00]: 37% say we're at a good level or it should be more.

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_00]: 41% are saying spend less or nothing.

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_00]: See, it's all in how you interpret the data.

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_00]: But I can't even get more in depth

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_00]: because they won't give me the questions.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_00]: They won't tell me what they actually ask these people,

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_00]: which is very suspicious to me, very suspicious.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Hang on a second.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought I had, oh yeah, I have some emails here.

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Hang on.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_00]: John says the, oh hang on a second.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_00]: John Moore, if you're listening, prepare a rim shot.

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I do not have my own.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Usually I play, okay, I usually play the rim shot

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_00]: from my own computer, but because I'm on site,

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I do not have that capability.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so here we go.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_00]: John says, Pete, the last time I tried to give blood,

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: they just asked too many questions.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Whose blood is this?

[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_00]: How did I get it?

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Why is it all in a bucket?

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Boom.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh wait, he says he shamelessly stole it from Facebook.

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I should have known.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I should not have read that.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, get ready John Moore.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's another one.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: From Seth, if the ballots were in their infant stages

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: on August 22nd, why couldn't Democrats just abort them?

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I hear the Democrats like doing that sort of thing.

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And boom goes the dynamite.

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it is kind of a hoot to see

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Democrats in media, but I repeat myself,

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: lamenting and being all outraged

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_00]: at the state Supreme Court for their,

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_00]: basically calling out the Board of Elections

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and the elections director, Karen Brinson Bell,

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_00]: for attempting to rig the ballot printing.

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's what we saw, right?

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: They had ample opportunity to stop printing ballots,

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_00]: or actually to just not start them at first,

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_00]: to just hold off on starting them

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_00]: because RFK Jr. says, I'm getting out of the race.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And what does she do?

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_00]: She directs her county boards of election

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: to start printing over a weekend.

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Over a weekend.

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Government employees working on a week,

[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_00]: okay, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, it's just a joke.

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So, but yeah, go to work on the weekends

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_00]: start printing the ballots.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the party comes along and says,

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_00]: hey, we're gonna take his name off the ballot.

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Keep printing ballots everybody.

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And then like, okay, what do we need to do?

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's a form.

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you need to give us this other form.

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, county boards, keep printing, keep printing.

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Then they get the form.

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Keep printing, keep printing.

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And then board of elections meeting

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and Brinson Bell goes before the board and says,

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_00]: we've already printed so many ballots.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_00]: We just, we can't suspend it now.

[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_00]: We can't reprint them all.

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_00]: That would be so expensive.

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're looking for somebody to pin the blame on

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_00]: for the costs of reprinting the ballots,

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_00]: it's Karen Brinson Bell.

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_00]: She was the one that had all the ballots printed.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_00]: She's the one that directed all of that to occur.

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though she was told RFK is dropping out.

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00]: He's suspending his campaign.

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_00]: But she wanted the ballots printed.

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So she had an excuse to deny his removal request.

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, that'll do it for this episode.

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening.

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I could not do the show without your support

[00:28:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and the support of the businesses

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_00]: that advertise on the podcast.

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you'd like, please support them too

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and tell them you heard it here.

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also become a patron at my Patreon page

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_00]: or go to thepeatcalinershow.com.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, thank you so much for listening

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and don't break anything while I'm gone.