Million Voter Outreach
In the General Assembly, we are still adjusting to the new faces and new dynamics of a stronger voice for Democrats. The 2020 elections are just around the corner and the sad reality is that it is easier for you to cast a vote for your favorite reality TV show star than it is to cast your vote for the people seeking to represent you and our community’s interests in public office.
The strongest tool that our citizens have is their vote. There is power in numbers and a citizen legislature needs citizen involvement.
Using your power as a voter should be easy. But Republican laws restricting voter ID requirements and early voting have made it extremely complicated and confusing. Some politicians are banking on that, replacing voter suppression with voter confusion.
When the Voter ID amendment passed in 2018, Democrats lobbied for as many existing photo IDs to be accepted at the polls. We believe that if you have a government-issued photo ID, you should be able to use that. That covers thousands of eligible voters across 850 different agencies: colleges, tribes and public employers.
But the Republican rules made things more complicated. When they called for pre-approval of these IDs, only 72 groups applied by the deadline, and 13 — most of them UNC system schools — were rejected for failing to meet the requirements. Senate Democrats proposed solutions to extend deadlines for colleges to ensure student IDs could be used at the polls and those efforts were blocked by the majority party in the North Carolina Senate. Legislators have a lot of work ahead of us to prevent these ID holders from being disenfranchised.
As a citizen, a voter, and community leader, there is work that you can do as well.
There are more than one million North Carolinians that are eligible to vote that aren’t registered yet. There’s a good chance that you know one of these citizens. Helping one more person get registered and get prepared to vote gets us one step closer to a better North Carolina.
This can seem overwhelming, but all of us working together can make this happen.
The first step is the most important!
Know your voter status and make sure you are an active registered voter.
Know the law and make sure you have a photo ID. If you don’t, go to your local Board of Elections or DMV where you can get a photo ID for free.
Then, reach out to your neighbor, your family member or friend; and make sure they know their voter status and they know the law.
That is how we build momentum — that is how we build a better North Carolina.
If you are able to do more, there are great community organizations with the same goal in mind. Reach out to your local party office, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP or You Can Vote NC.
We have one year to reach one million eligible North Carolina voters. We can do this together, one citizen at a time.
