House Moving Elections Bills as Crossover Date Looms | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an associate editor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Amendment striking literacy test from constitution one of several

    RALEIGH     The state House has approved a bill that would remove a vestige of Jim Crow days from the N.C. Constitution.

    The House, by a 117-0 vote, gave its approval to a proposed amendment that would remove this sentence from the N.C. Constitution: "Every person presenting himself for registration shall be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in the English language."

    The literacy requirement to register to vote hasn't been enforced since the mid-1960s because of the federal Voting Rights Act. It was left in the 1971 revision of the N.C. Constitution by mistake, said Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, during earlier debate on the proposal

    "We don't know how it got there, but it got there," Michaux said.

    The proposed amendment, House Bill 311, now goes to the Senate. If approved there, it would be placed on the ballot during the May 2014 primary for ratification.

    The literacy constitutional amendment is one of a handful of elections related bills lawmakers are considering this week.

    House Bill 919, approved the House on Tuesday by a 115-1 vote, would require most campaign committees that spend more than $5,000 to file their campaign finance reports electronically.

    That bill passed after it was modified to assist users of the Macintosh computer operating system, and to accommodate candidates who have software malfunctions.

    Currently, the State Board of Elections software is compatible with Windows, but not the Mac operating system. Elections officials hope that software will be available by the time the bill takes effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

    However, if it is not available, the bill allows for Mac users to download Microsoft Word forms, fill in the blanks, and email the completed forms back to the state board. Committees also would have late fees waived if software failure, Internet failures, or inability to assess the Internet because of a natural disaster caused late filing of reports.

    Another bill would have an interim committee study whether the state should make it easier for smaller parties to get on the North Carolina ballot.

    "It's fair for the smaller parties," said Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, one of the sponsors of that bill.

    That bill (House Bill 794) passed 109-5, and moves on to the Senate.

    Another measure (House Bill 918) would require independent committees and groups to meet more disclosure requirements if they spend money to campaign in North Carolina.

    "It makes reporting for electioneering communications and independent expenditures more regularized and more transparent," said Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake. "People want to know where is this coming from, who's doing it."

    House members got bogged down in debate on how much donor disclosure would be required. It states that people making contributions of more than $100 to be made public.

    "This is not talking about the general dues that somebody might have paid," said Rep. Skip Stam, R-Wake. "I do support the bill."

    House members debated the bill Monday night, but took no vote on it. It is on today's House calendar.