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North Carolina Open Thread: GOP bill radically changes voting rules, Gov. Cooper’s rural outreach [1]

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Date: 2023-08-20

This blog is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue . This weekly platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we take back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation. Please stop by each week. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads . If you are interested in starting your own state blog, weekly to occasionally, I will list your work below.

Please jump the fold for links to a couple of stories from WUNC.

WUNC, Rusty Jones, 8/17/2023

Republicans in the GOP-dominated state legislature have taken a big step towards achieving long sought-after changes to North Carolina's voting rules. And the sweeping changes would be put in place just in time for next year's presidential election.

In a Wednesday night vote, the state Senate signed off on modifications made to a measure by House lawmakers. The legislation covers everything from mail-in ballot rules to the conduct of partisan poll observers — but one thing it doesn’t do is provide any money for elections administration.

"It doesn't appropriate money for boards of elections for more workers to handle the increased load of provisional ballots, the major changes to same-day voter registration, and to create the lists and reports of the voter rolls and ballots as required under this bill," lamented Rep. Zack Hawkins, D-Durham, arguing against the GOP bill during House floor debate on Wednesday evening.

The North Carolina General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division puts the bill's price tag at around $6 million over the next two years. That figure includes money needed for voter education, precinct worker training, and upgrading the state's election information management system that is used for processing everything from mail-in ballots to maintaining registration records and voter rolls.

WUNC, AP, 8/18/2023

With a Medicaid expansion kickoff likely delayed further in North Carolina as General Assembly budget negotiations drag on, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wrapped up a week of rural travel Thursday to attempt to build pressure upon Republicans to hustle on an agreement.

All of these and other needs could be addressed with several billion dollars in recurring federal funds statewide annually and a one-time $1.8 billion bonus once expansion can be implemented, according to Cooper.

The governor signed a law in March that would provide Medicaid to potentially 600,000 low-income adults who make too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid. But that law said it can’t happen until a state budget law is enacted. House and Senate leaders are still negotiating a two-year spending plan seven weeks after the current fiscal year began.

“It’s past time for Republican leaders to do their jobs, pass a budget and start Medicaid expansion now to give our rural areas resources to prevent hospital closures and combat the opioid crisis,” Cooper said in a news release summarizing his visit to Yadkin County on Thursday.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/20/2188409/-North-Carolina-Open-Thread-GOP-bill-radically-changes-voting-rules-Gov-Cooper-s-rural-outreach

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