Conservative columnist Paul Sperry is sounding a warning for Republicans.
“SCOOP: Trump campaign fears >530k Trump voters in western NC cd be disenfranchised by Helene,” Sperry tweeted on Tuesday. “In fact, 26 of 28 counties hit by flooding voted for Trump in ’20. ‘There’s a 4-to-1 disparity (vs Biden/Harris voters). We’re very concerned,’ a Trump insider said. NC=16 electoral votes.”
Now that his potential votes are on the road in flood-ravaged North Carolina, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s marketing campaign has requested the Democrat-controlled State Board of Elections, the legislature, and the Democratic governor to supply these voters precisely the type of entry he and his minions are suing to disclaim in all places else.
“The state Board of Elections this week adopted emergency provisions for 13 western counties that allow voters to request absentee ballots in person up until the day before the election, allow people to return absentee ballots to polling places on Election Day, and allow voters to hand-deliver absentee ballots to the state Board of Elections office or to county election board offices other than their home counties,” reported NC Newsline. “The Trump campaign said in a Tuesday press release that along with these changes, it asked Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Republican-controlled legislature to allow people to cast provisional ballots in counties where they are not registered.”
Tar Heel State Democrats might have simply blocked a lot of this—however they haven’t, as a result of Democrats aren’t assholes. Mockingly, it’s Republicans who’ve blocked extra Trump marketing campaign requests to enable out-of-county provisional poll voting, which might enable displaced folks to vote at common polling places (versus election board workplaces).
The request is sensible from a voting-rights perspective, as displaced residents could also be staying with household and associates, or at resorts outdoors of their dwelling county. They might not know the place a county election workplace is positioned or have easy accessibility to 1.
North Carolina Republicans additionally blocked a Democratic effort to increase the voter registration deadline by 5 days and restore a three-day grace interval to obtain absentee ballots at native elections workplaces.
“[Republican] House Rules Chairman Destin Hall said the crisis was no time for ‘partisan games,’” reported NC Newsline. This befuddled state Rep. Caleb Rudow, the Democratic lawmaker who made the solutions to allow voter participation.
“Lots of folks agree with this idea,” Rudow stated. “It’s a bipartisan idea. It’s about voting.”
It’s humorous how the Republicans’ “voter fraud” narrative is so ingrained of their psyche, they’ll’t let go of it—even when it means inconveniencing or flat-out disenfranchising lots of of 1000’s of their very own voters.
Some context on previous North Carolina election outcomes: Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 173,000 votes there in 2016, and he bested President Joe Biden by round 75,000 votes in 2020.
If Sperry is right that over 530,000 potential Republican voters are affected in western North Carolina, there can be a sure irony to a climate-change pushed pure catastrophe serving to price the GOP this presidential election.
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