The North Carolina Balloon Juice folks are meeting again:
Please post that the NC Triangle-area BJers are meeting in Cary on Thursday, Sept 5, at 7pm at Maximillian’s Pizza Kitchen (around the corner from Maximillian’s): http://maximillianspizzakitchen.com/
Our special guest will be MsSpentYouth, a progressive activist, blogger at DailyKos, veteran of the Moral Monday protests in Raleigh, and BJ reader.
If people plan to attend, RSVP to [email protected] so I can give the restaurant a heads up.
Thanks! Elizabeth
NAACP rolls out voter info line:
The North Carolina NAACP has opened a toll-free telephone hotline to answer questions about voter ID law and ballot access. The civil rights group has launched a phone number, 1 (855) 664-3487, to take calls related to the Voter Information Verification Act signed into law earlier this month by Gov. Pat McCrory.
burnspbesq
Cool. This battle needs to be fought on all fronts at once. A good next step would be a multi-platform advertising campaign to publicize the hotline: TV, radio, billboards, the whole deal.
I continue to believe that the litigation will succeed, but failing to plan = planning to fail.
Kay
@burnspbesq:
From my own experience, there’s a bigger, better reason to involve individuals. They have to know they have rights and they should walk in with the expectation those rights will be honored. They’re not passive supplicants, they’re not presumptive “defendants”. They can blanket that state with lawyers, and it won’t be enough.
The best protection for a voter is the voter. Don’t just accept a provisional ballot. Hold up the line. There’s a powerful social thing at work here, where they’ve been pulled out of the line and there’s pressure on them to get it handled. The saddest thing I’ve seen is voters shunted over to the table to fill out their 4 part provisional ballot, and seeing them give up.
Ask them to point to the rule that says a provisional ballot is the only option. Make pollworkers check that it’s filled out properly. Ask when it gets counted. Hold up the line, if you have to.
EriktheRed
@burnspbesq:
Yup. I’m not nearly as optimistic as you seem to be that this legislation is gonna get overturned. In a situation like that it’s an extremely good idea to work on compliance, too. After all, it’s not like they can just outlaw voting based upon the demographics that most vote Dem these days. They still have to do underhanded workarounds like this to make it more complicated for those demographics to vote.
The earlier word gets out to the poorest in NC (and other states) the less this legislation’s intended effect wil happen.
c u n d gulag
I lived in Chapel Hill for over 3 years in the early 00’s, and I want to share with everyone, a NC joke:
You know what CARY is an acronym for?
Confinement Area for Relocated Yankees.
I always liked that one.
And, of course, Chapel Hill was the town the late NC Senator Jesse Helms absolutely loathed, since it’s very liberal.
When the state legislature was discussing funding a state zoo, he asked why the state needed another one, and instead of a new one, they could just put a fence around Chapel Hill.
the Conster
Every time I see the governor’s name, I read it as Pat McGroin.
Mike in NC
We were in Charlotte yesterday and I enjoyed the front page story in the Observer newspaper: “Embattled McCrory Struggled From The Start”. It detailed what a fraud and empty suit he is, not to mention completely under the thumb of the Tea Party radicals.
? Martin
Hate that guy.
the Conster
@? Martin:
Just words. Also he doesn’t really want to meet with them, he’s just pandering. It’s a meaningless gesture and he’s no better than Romney would have been- both parties are exactly the same so vote for Paul because freedom.
burnspbesq
@the Conster:
As soon as it’s verified that the all the LGBT and human rights activists have arrived at the planned meeting location, Obama will come down with “food poisoning” and be unable to attend. A “power failure” will temporarily knock out the entire Russian air-defense radar system, and US drones will then destroy the building, after which Edward Snowden will be handed over to US authorities.
Aunt Kathy
Luckily I’m in a blue state and will hopefully stay that way. But does anyone know if there has been any planning in any of these red Voter ID states that actually take likely affected voters to the DMVs (or wherever) to GET them their proper IDs now? Just in case the lawsuits don’t work?
What I would love to see is activist college students (are there any?), directed by a NAACP or SOMEBODY, going door-to-door in the most affected neighborhoods, towns, etc, and get a database going (a la Obama) of who/what/where. Schedule some days when these affected voters are picked up in buses, church vans, anything available. Have your own little mini-freedom rides to the town halls and DMVs. The bigger the crowds, the better. If the lines stretch out into the parking lots and the poor little DMV is overwhelmed, all the better. Lots of press. And more fuel for the “The state is requiring us to do this and they can’t even handle this task in a timely manner” fire.
Let the assholes know: Make up any damn rules you want. You won’t stop us. We’ll play. Just let us know what the rules of the game, we’ll play. Hard.
kc
@Aunt Kathy:
I was wondering the same thing for my own red state (SC), and Googling around, I just couldn’t find any information about any organized effort to ensure that people can vote. I have no grass roots organizing experience myself and wouldn’t know how to begin starting something like this on my own. I’m willing to help; I just don’t know where to start.
Kay, if you have any tips or suggestions, I’d be most grateful.
c u n d gulag
@kc:
Contact the NAACP.
Or, contact Organizing For America:
http://www.barackobama.com/contact-us/
They’ll point you towards whoever is doing GOTV efforts for the Democratic Party in your state and area.
Do whatever you can, with whichever organization(s) will be working in your area.
You’ll meet some terrific people in the group, and a lot of really nice people knocking at the doors – sure, the occasional Conservative bunghole, and some too busy to talk, but most of the rest are very nice.
Comrade Jake
@Aunt Kathy: lots of this already in the works in NC, actually.
kc
@c u n d gulag:
Thanks! I did already look at the website for the state’s NAACP and didn’t see anything current, but I’ll give them a call this week. I’ll check with the Organizing for America people as well. Thanks for the info.
metalgirl
@c u n d gulag: Are you in the triangle area? If so, you should join us tomorrow night in Cary :)