June 7, 2023
All:
From Jim Womack :
Attached below is my assessment of North Carolina Senate Bill 747 with talking points and recommendations. Also attached is my revised "target list" of influential legislators in three categories- (1) House GOP Members in priority order, (2) Senate GOP Members in priority order, and (3) House democrats who might be sympathetic to election integrity legislation.
What we have at present is a "lightning rod" Omnibus Elections bill (S747) just released in the NC Senate. (The media are trashing the bill and several of us unmercifully!) The Senate Bill is a '65% solution' with 20 parts. The most important ten parts I have highlighted in the attached document. I also outlined four parts that have inadequate language in the bill- all of which require modifications to be effective. The Senate Bill captures only a few minor things from the myriad House bills still sitting in the House Elections Committee. Two of those House Bills truly need to be incorporated into S747 for it to be the powerhouse elections bill we have hoped for. They are- H770 (Cast Vote Records) and H772 (Permitted Poll Observer Activity). If we can message the need to consolidate S747 (with recommended changes) along with H770 and H772, we may have a great chance of election integrity success this session.
Senator Berger (President Pro Tem of the NC Senate) is skittish about S747. He told his GOP conference he is afraid to tackle too much more in election overhauls. Given that, I believe we are best served to limit our top priority list to these things I outlined. While I certainly wanted more transparency on and access to machines and shortening of early voting, and while we seriously need provisions for post-election audits, I think we will be well served with what is outlined in the attachment- particularly if we can persuade the House and Senate leaders to fold S747 in with H770 and H772.
In my discussions with a few Legislators, it doesn't appear they are clear about the best way forward. We have work to do there. I will be meeting with a few legislators tomorrow in Raleigh and I will try to update everyone on what I hear.
The links for each bill I mentioned above are as follows:
Senate Bill 747- https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/S747
House Bill 770- https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/H770
House Bill 772- https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/H772
I welcome your feedback and assistance with getting S747 modified and passed into law.
Warm Regards/
Jim Womack
President, NCEIT
Tel. (919) 770-4783
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