Positive signs for fixing the DMV? (05-06-2025--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 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 thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, write your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:29] And it is Tuesday. It is 12 o'clock noon. And so it's time to chat with Andrew Dunn. He is the publisher of Longleaf Politics and a contributing columnist over at the Charlotte Observer. But we do not hold that against him. Andrew, welcome to the show, sir. How are you? Oh, I'm fantastic. Great to be back with you. Yes, sir. Glad you had some time today again for us. We appreciate it. You got a bunch of different posts that are out there. So let's start with your piece that appeared in the McClatchy papers, News and Observer, Charlotte Observer.

[00:00:55] And this is about everybody's favorite state agency to hate the DMV. You say in a partisan political climate, the DMV is one of the few things everybody agrees is broken, which is what makes Governor Josh Stein's new appointment to lead the agency so revealing. OK, so who is this guy, Paul Tyne? And why is this revealing, as you say?

[00:01:23] Yeah, so. Republican lawmakers have been highly critical of Wayne Goodwin, who's been running the DMV for a couple of years now, ended up pushing him to step down and not try to get reappointed. And so the secretary of transportation, he was he was going around telling reporters that, you know, they were looking to bring in a new DMV commissioner who had business experience, who's going to shake things up, fix all these problems.

[00:01:50] But then Josh Stein ended up appointing Paul Tyne, who is a former state lawmaker. He runs an insurance agency out on the Outer Banks. I don't see anything wrong with him as a person. I'm sure he's a nice guy. I've never spoken to him, but he's definitely not, you know, a retail business leader who's going to come in and shake things up. You know, when I see that pick, what I see is someone who's going to be able to manage the political relationship.

[00:02:20] And what I see from Josh Stein is him basically saying, I'm not going to do anything with this. I can't fix it. We're just going to let Republicans, you know, the state auditor, Dave Bullock and the General Assembly run the show here. And and Paul Tyne is kind of going to be my go between to that has credibility with the General Assembly and is on my side.

[00:02:41] Which it kind of makes some sense from a not just a political strategy standpoint, but also, I guess, pragmatically, because the legislature is going to be the body that is going to green light any funds necessary to to do whatever renovation needs to be done inside the DMV. Right. Yeah, I mean, honestly, this might be close to the best case scenario in our current landscape.

[00:03:09] I mean, like a pie in the sky world. Would it be great if we had a super confident, successful businessman who would come in and reshape the DMV? Like that would be fantastic. But in this environment, I just don't see that happening. So I don't think it's worth Josh Stein getting in getting in a fight over, you know, a turf battle over who gets to fix the DMV. So this might actually be the best way to actually bring about change.

[00:03:37] Right. Sometimes the right politics is the right policy and it's the right thing to do. And so, yeah, if you've got a guy that plays well with Republicans, you put him in charge and you let the Republicans sort of lead the way and he can implement. And if you just take a hands off approach, if you're Stein and things do improve, then you get to claim credit. And, you know, the North Carolina media is going to give Josh Stein all the credit in the world if he is able to reduce the wait times.

[00:04:07] Of course. But I'm much more concerned about things actually getting better for people in North Carolina. You know, I was just on the DMV website the other day trying to get an appointment. And there are zero appointments anywhere in the state of North Carolina over the next 90 days, which is just completely absurd. Yeah. Yeah. I had to drive. I had to renew mine. And that's a whole other story.

[00:04:32] Like because I when I moved, my address did not exist because it was a newly built house in a neighborhood. And so I had to wait for all of the systems to get updated with the new address and everything. So I had to go down and show the DMV my proof of, you know, home purchase like this property does exist. Well, they took my photo. Right. I got the the real ID at the time.

[00:04:54] I did all of that. And then I got I get a letter like within eight months or so that says I got to renew my license. I said, I just did. And they're like, no, no, that was a duplicate. Wait, why is that a duplicate license? Like, oh, that only counts as a duplicate. I said, I got a new picture taken and everything and new address. And they confirmed it was me. I didn't take the eye test. They didn't give me the eye test. So it doesn't count as a renewal.

[00:05:18] So I had to go 100 miles up north towards Hickory for the only appointment that I could find to get the real ID and get the get the renewal. It's just yeah, it's absolutely absurd. And Mecklenburg County is is among the worst, as I understand it. People just waiting in line for hours on end and not even getting in. Then just you wait for five hours and you don't even get in. And the government forces everybody to go to these agencies. So everybody has this up close personal experience with their government.

[00:05:48] And it's not it's not pleasant. So, yeah, maybe it's not at all. You know, and I'm old enough to remember when you would just walk in. And they would actually print your lessons for you right there. You'd walk out with it. But those days are long gone. Yeah. All right. So maybe, as you say, appointing a politically acceptable middleman. Let the General Assembly and the state auditor drive the process and hope that it's enough to make progress. Or here's the other part of it is you can shift the blame.

[00:06:17] If it doesn't work out, then you can blame the legislature and the state auditor. So politically, it seems pretty smart for Stein to have gone this direction. We'll see if it works out for us. Yeah, here's hoping. Yeah. Next up, Phil Berger, most powerful legislator in the state of North Carolina. And he has now started rolling out endorsements from allies, which you point out.

[00:06:45] This is usually the time in the in the political calendar where you're working on budgets and legislation. You're not out campaigning at this point. But you say Berger is not treating this like a typical off year. So why is that? Yeah, well, that's what got me started thinking about this when I saw all those endorsements roll out. And then, you know, it's way early in the cycle for for that sort of thing to happen. Your listeners may may or may not be familiar with this.

[00:07:13] But Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page has announced that he's going to challenge Phil Berger for his Senate seat in 2026. Also a really early announcement from the sheriff. But he's been thinking about this for a long time. And, you know, on its face, you wouldn't think that Phil Berger, with all his his power in the state of North Carolina, would have anything to worry about. But when you dive into the data, he actually does have a problem there.

[00:07:42] You know, Sheriff Sam Page is extremely popular in Rockingham County. You know, he doesn't have great name ID outside of Rockingham County. You know, he ran for lieutenant governor two years ago and didn't do very well statewide. I think he came in fourth or fifth place in an 11 person field. But he dominated in Rockingham County. People love him there. And it's really hard to kind of gauge how he would fare in a head to head battle against Berger.

[00:08:09] But there are some signs that that he could give Berger a run for his money. Neither one has really faced much opposition, which makes it tough. You know, but when they're running unopposed, you know, Sam Page gets 75 percent of the vote and Berger gets, you know, 60 percent of the vote. And it's hard to say, you know, hard to say when you know what that means when they're actually head to head. But on its face, those are those are warm signs for Berger.

[00:08:36] And it sounds like from how he's acting right now that he's taking it extremely seriously. Didn't Sam Page run for lieutenant governor? Wasn't he sort of talked out of running against Berger? I think that was the rumor that he was going to run against Berger, but then he got talked into running for lieutenant governor instead. Is that is there anything to that that you know of? That's my best guess. You know, I don't have any hard evidence that that's what happens. But I would say with ninety nine percent certainty that that's what happened.

[00:09:05] Yeah. So then comes the the the casino issue where Phil Berger makes this deal to bring casino gambling to four different places across the state. Rockingham County being one of them. And I heard the reasons for it and all that. And it put a lot of Republicans in an awkward position because they did not want casino gambling in North Carolina. But Phil Berger was pushing it and he is very powerful.

[00:09:32] Sam Page was one of the only Republicans that I saw consistently hammering away at Phil Berger on this. How does that play back in their district? Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. I think the Republican opposition to it was pretty broad. There's a lot of folks in the Republican caucus who are very uneasy about expanding casino gambling. But you're right. You know, nobody was coming out vocally against it except for Sam Page.

[00:10:01] But, you know, the fact that it didn't make it into the budget because there wasn't enough Republican votes kind of tells you everything you need to know there. And I think maybe if the process had gone a different way, casinos would have been more well received if, you know, Berger and other Republicans in that area kind of laid the groundwork for it. You know, made the argument for it, took it slow, did public hearings, all that sort of thing that you typically associate with a controversial political issue.

[00:10:31] But it really seemed like Berger wanted to just kind of ram it through. I'm not quite sure what the thought process was there. It really seems like kind of an unusual political misstep for him. Yeah. You also point out something that I think a lot of people overlook, which is that when you are a leader in a legislative body, you're going around and doing a lot of other stuff. And you point out, you know, he's built this political machine. He directs it. But he also is he's got a lot on his plate.

[00:11:01] He's going different places. National level, it's even worse. And it is very easy for people that rise to those positions to lose touch with their local district. And I think there are examples of it. What was his Eric Cantor right up in Virginia who got beat by David Bratt just out of the blue. And I think that's part of the reason why sometimes that happens. Oh, absolutely.

[00:11:25] And we're in a political environment right now where there's very strong anti-incumbent sentiment, you know, both on the left and the right. But I would say especially among Republicans. And I don't think Berger has kind of adjusted his political calculus to adapt to that. Andrew Dunn, publisher of Longleaf Politics. You can check out the website longleafpol.com. Also, you can read his work at the Charlotte Observer. Andrew, thanks so much, man. Have a great week. We'll see you next Tuesday.

[00:11:55] Sounds good. All right. Thank you. 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 mountain. And Cabins of Asheville 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.

[00:12:21] Nestled within the breathtaking 14,000 acres of the Pisgah National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between Asheville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, it's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local attractions.

[00:12:39] With hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi-Fi, grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch, choose from 13 cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a great lodge with 11 king-sized bedrooms. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion. And they have pet-friendly accommodations. Call or text 828-367-7068.

[00:13:04] Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. One o'clock, we'll be chatting with T.J. Ritchie. He is the newly named host of a newly created show, coincidentally called the T.J. Ritchie Show. It's a mystery how he got the job. And that's going to be 7 to 9 p.m. weekdays here on WBT, but we'll be talking with him at 1 o'clock.

[00:13:32] And then at 1.30, we got Joe Bruno from WSOC-TV to talk about paying off our police chief because his feelings were hurt, I think. Okay. A bill filed in the North Carolina House would extend driver's license expiration dates. So we're going to get an extension if you haven't, which I have missed.

[00:14:00] I took a day off of work to drive an hour up towards Hickory to get my license renewed. But now under this bill, House Bill 821, which already received approval by the House Transportation Committee, it would establish a temporary moratorium on the expiration of certain Class C driver licenses in North Carolina.

[00:14:23] This is due to the long wait times at all of the offices across the entire state. I got a message here from Sherry to Pete at the PeteCalendorShow.com. A relative had an appointment for this week, approximately one hour from her home. She received an email yesterday telling her appointments were overbooked. Her appointment was canceled and she would need to reschedule through the website.

[00:14:52] As your guest, Andrew Dunn, just mentioned, and anybody who has tried to get an appointment knows, it's almost impossible to get an appointment. Yeah. It is ridiculous. There are some hacks. I went over these a couple of weeks ago. One of them is the midnight hack or the 12 a.m. hack, which is the appointments open up at 12 midnight on the computer, on the website.

[00:15:19] So if you set your alarm, wake up or stay up and get online, you may be able to find some slots right at 12 o'clock in the morning. The bill extends the validity of Class C driver's licenses for up to two years beyond their expiration date. However, the extension does not apply to licenses that are currently canceled, revoked or suspended,

[00:15:46] nor to Real ID compliant licenses that have been valid for eight years or more. So if you have the Real ID and you have to renew it, you cannot get the two-year extension. It would be active upon the bill becoming law. The law would only be in effect through December 31, 2027. In March, North Carolina's DMV chief Wayne Goodwin announced he would not seek to keep his post,

[00:16:12] but he indicated that he would remain in his $163,000 annual position until a replacement is found. During his tenure, he did try to address efficiency issues through Saturday office operations and self-serve kiosks and grocery stores. However, 2024 turned out to be a difficult year for him and the DMV due to service delays and contract issues. Back in March, lawmakers held hearings focused on appointment scheduling and customer wait times.

[00:16:39] And in June, the DMV came under fire after state ID delays reached six weeks instead of the standard 15 days, which Goodwin attributed to vendor problems. 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.

[00:17:07] 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 can check it out at check.ground.news.com. I put the link in the 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.

[00:17:37] See for yourself. Check.ground.news.com. Subscribe through that link, and you'll get 15% 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. All right, so I think this election is finally over. I mean the last election. I think it may be over, guys. No, wait. No, wait. Hang on. We still have like a week. Okay.

[00:18:07] A federal judge has ordered the North Carolina State Board of Elections to just go ahead and certify the results of that state Supreme Court race between Democrat Allison Riggs and Republican Jefferson Griffin and to certify Riggs, the Democrat, as the winner in the election. The decision rejects ballot challenges from the Republican Party and the candidate Griffin.

[00:18:37] U.S. Chief District Judge Richard Myers, a Trump appointment, placed a one-week hold on his decision, though, just in case Griffin wants to appeal, which I'm pretty sure he's going to. I have no idea. I have no inside knowledge on that. I'm just pretty sure he's going to because everybody's been appealing every single thing in this case the whole time. So why would it stop now?

[00:19:02] The judge rejected the state Supreme Court decision from last month that put about 1,700, well, between 1,700 and 5,700 ballots from the fall election in question. Okay. The state Supreme Court ruling did that. We went over this at the time. And the state's highest court endorsed what they call a cure process.

[00:19:28] In other words, a remedy, a fix on how to deal with these disputed ballots. Most of the ballots that we're talking about were tied to overseas voters who did not provide photo ID. I went over the ins and outs of this again when the Supreme Court made its decision. There's a smaller number of ballots that involved the never residents.

[00:19:56] These are people that have never lived in North Carolina for whatever reason. And like maybe they're kids of, you know, people working overseas or something or in the military. So they were born over there, but they're American citizens. And so they then turn 18. They can register to vote. And they don't live here. They never have lived here. But what address do they put down? They're an American citizen. Their parents are from North Carolina.

[00:20:22] So they put their parents address from North Carolina in and they were never a resident. And so they have to check a box that says, have you ever been a resident? And they say no. And those votes. Are challenged as well because they are never residents. The decision preserves the Democrats 734 vote lead over Republican Jefferson Griffin.

[00:20:52] There were more than five and a half million votes cast. Carolina Journal quotes from the opinion. And I've I've read most of the opinion. It was like 70 pages. Says the court wishes to make clear that this case is not about the prerogative of North Carolina courts to interpret North Carolina law. Without question, those courts are the principal expositors of state law.

[00:21:20] This case is also not about North Carolina's primacy to establish rules for future state elections. It may do so. So if the state wants to make laws for elections, they can do that.

[00:21:33] Rather, he says, this case concerns whether the federal constitution, not the state, but the federal constitution, permits a state to alter the rules of an election after the fact and apply those changes retroactively to only a select group of voters. And in so doing, treat those voters differently than other similarly situated individuals.

[00:21:58] I think this is partly because some of the challenges went were directed at ballots that came from certain counties and not statewide. And so you could have people that, you know, also did not provide a photo ID, but did not live in one of the challenged counties and they weren't challenged. And so their votes got to count. There was no challenge against them. They don't have to fix their ballots.

[00:22:20] This case is also about whether a state may redefine its class of eligible voters, but offer no process to those who may have been misclassified as ineligible. To this court, the answer to each of those questions is no. The judge in the introduction of his ruling. Also wrote.

[00:22:46] It's important to understand who cast ballots in the election and under what rules. For example, thousands of North Carolina voters cast absentee ballots from overseas. Many of these folks serve in the military or are in the family of someone who does. Others may be missionaries. Still more are temporarily working or pursuing an education abroad. Relevant to those voters, North Carolina's General Assembly enacted a voter ID law in 2018.

[00:23:15] But we didn't get to do it because, yeah, we were getting sued all over the place, right? So took years of litigation and the law finally took effect in 2023. But the law has never been applied to overseas military and civilian voters who vote absentee. The North Carolina Board of Elections, on a bipartisan and unanimous basis, exempted those voters from the voter ID law.

[00:23:42] And this is because when you are overseas and you're voting, you're voting in local, state, and national races. And there is a national guideline for overseas voters that does not include a photo ID. And so the state harmonized its law for absentee ballots cast from overseas with the federal law. The North Carolina Board of Elections said, we're going to have this same exemption.

[00:24:10] On April 1st, 2024, the state board, pursuant to its rulemaking authority, promulgated a final rule which provided that overseas military and civilian voters were not required to submit a copy of their photo ID with their absentee ballot. An identical temporary administrative rule had already been in effect for eight months before promulgation of the final rule. So the final rule was on the books for over seven months prior to the election and it went unchallenged.

[00:24:38] In the months leading up to the election, the state board also publicized guidance to overseas voters, which told them that they were exempt from the voter ID law. Thousands of overseas voters then on election day relied on that rule and the state board's guidance. And in fact, they had no choice.

[00:25:00] Overseas voters submit their ballots through an online portal and that portal has no mechanism for a voter to attach a copy of their photo ID. That's a problem. That's a problem. All right. So spring is here, a time of renewal and celebrations. You got graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and the special days for mom and dad. Your family's making memories that are going to last a lifetime.

[00:25:27] 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. At Creative Video, they help you protect what matters most. Their expert team digitizes your cherished family moments and transfers them onto a USB drive, freezing them in time so they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

[00:25:57] I urge you, do not wait until it's too late. This spring, celebrate your past. Visit Creative Video today and let them preserve your legacy with the love and care that it deserves. Creative Video, preserving family memories since 1997. Located in Mint Hill, just off 485. Mail orders are accepted, too. Get all the details at createavideo.com.

[00:26:19] So Judge Griffin, the Republican appeals court judge who ran against the sitting state Supreme Court judge, Judge Allison Riggs, Democrat, he challenged the votes from a separate group of voters. Children of overseas North Carolinians who, according to the judge, when casting an absentee ballot in 2024, checked a box indicating that they have never lived in the United States. These are called the never residents.

[00:26:48] For over a decade prior to the 2024 election, there's state law that granted these never residents the right to vote. And they had voted under that statute in over 40 consecutive elections. But North Carolina's constitution includes a bona fide residency requirement for voters.

[00:27:10] The North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court both determined that the law granting never residents the right to vote conflicted with the bona fide residency provision in the state constitution. And so it was void. It was voided. Because the law cannot supplant the constitution.

[00:27:40] Everybody who self-identified as a never resident in the November 2024 election, several hundred individuals, will have their votes discarded in this race. There was no cure process offered to any individual who may have inadvertently checked the box indicating that they have never lived in the U.S. and who had, in fact, previously lived in the U.S., lived in North Carolina.

[00:28:06] Right. So there if you made a mistake and check the box, there was no way for you to fix that. The question presented here, the judge ruled, is whether those decisions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, which rested on state law grounds, can be implemented in an election in a manner consistent with federal law. And that's where he says the answer is no. In his 68 page ruling.

[00:28:39] The judge named Myers, again, this is a Trump appointment, said that Griffin, the Republican, and the North Carolina GOP's unprecedented effort to challenge over 65,000 ballots presented an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote. The Charlotte Observer reports that in April, the state Supreme Court threw out Griffin's largest challenge, most amount of ballots that he was challenging.

[00:29:03] They threw that one out, but they ruled that potentially thousands of military and overseas voters would have to prove their eligibility during a 30 day ballot review process. This was the cure period. They were like, we're tossing all of these, but there's still this like pool of anywhere from, you know, 1700 to 6000 votes or so. We'll give them 30 days to basically show proof of photo ID if you were absentee or whatever.

[00:29:30] Several hundred other voters challenged over the residency status. This was the never residence. But if this judge's ruling now stands, it means the cure period will not begin and no votes will be discarded. Griffin and the North Carolina GOP are likely to appeal this ruling to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. But that court has already ruled against their efforts previously. So the case could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

[00:30:01] Griffin had initially challenged over 65,000 ballots. That was significantly reduced when the state Supreme Court, Republican controlled, rejected the largest chunk of those ballots. That was they did not have certain identifying numbers in the state registration database. I've said this from the beginning.

[00:30:31] Like virtually all of this is a mess because of the State Board of Elections. Just just you've got tens of thousands of people that are supposed to have identification numbers, either the Social Security number or if they don't provide one, they get a voter ID number, basically. And the state board never went through. They and did a list maintenance to make sure everybody had these numbers.

[00:30:59] The state Supreme Court ruled that this omission was not the voters fault and therefore could not be used to cancel their ballots. But the state Supreme Court said that these other group of absentees without photo ID, that that that challenge could proceed. But you have to have a 30 day remedy period, a cure period.

[00:31:24] The judge noted that the state had approved an exemption to the ID requirement for military and overseas voters that was in place for months before the election, but was never challenged until after. So I don't know, man, maybe like maybe we get some better list maintenance. Now that the Board of Elections is going to is appointed by the state auditor, Dave Bolick. Right. The Republican legislature moved the appointment power from the governor over to the state auditor.

[00:31:54] Governor sued, won the first time, lost on an appeal. He's going to appeal again. So who knows if I have no idea what's going to happen with that. Also of note, Tim Wiginton from the Blue Ridge Times reporting on the Fair Election Fund report on North Carolina's election system.

[00:32:18] And the report relied on criteria laid out in the Baker Carter Commission from 2005 to address Americans failing confidence in the election system, which provided over 80 recommendations for sound elections. One of them was voter ID and North Carolina overall got a score of a C in election administration. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:32:43] 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 thepetecalendershow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.