Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! We begin today with some elections updates. Read to the end for something more fun.
— Bryan Anderson
🧑⚖️ Roll Call
- How to fix your registration
- Big changes to the N.C. State Health Plan
- James Richardson heads back to court
- The Feds send the Lumbee back to Congress
- We encourage Tricia Cotham to switch sides
- Around the State: Medicaid cuts and Mark Robinson
Correcting the Record
As folks may remember, the State Board of Elections last month released a list of 103,270 North Carolinians who needed to provide their driver’s license number or last four digits of their Social Security number to avoid casting a provisional ballot the next time they vote. (Provisionals are historically rejected at higher rates than standard ballots.)
Read this story for a refresher on why this list exists.
In the month since that announcement, one in five people on the list updated their voter registrations, according to the latest data. In response to a records request, the NCBSE on Monday gave The Assembly a copy of a mailer that it plans to send to more than 82,000 people encouraging them to provide updated information.
If you see your name on the list linked above, you still need to provide election officials with your driver’s license number, DMV ID number, or the last four digits of your Social Security number.
There are three ways you can do this:
BY MAIL: County elections boards are about to send out notices to people on the list. Voters can return the document to the State Board of Elections in a pre-addressed, prepaid return envelope enclosed with the letter.
ONLINE: If you are a registered driver, you can submit an updated voter registration form through the DMV’s website at payments.ncdot.gov. This is free. Click “Continue as Guest” when asked to log in to myNCDMV. Next, click “Yes” when asked to update your voter information.
IN PERSON: Return the form to your county elections office. The address will be included at the top of the letter you receive. Of note: You can’t update your registration over the phone.
“We strongly encourage all voters on the Registration Repair list to take action now and avoid any issues the next time they show up to vote,” NCSBE Executive Director Sam Hayes said in a statement.
— Bryan Anderson
Thanks for reading The Caucus, a politics newsletter anchored by Bryan Anderson. Reach us with tips or ideas at politics@theassemblync.com.
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Cost of Care
N.C. State Health Plan administrators last week approved changes that will result in most of the state’s roughly 750,000 covered teachers, state employees, and retirees paying higher premiums next year.
The rates are based on a sliding income scale. Many people making more than $90,000 a year will see monthly premiums more than triple from $25 a month to $80 a month, while those making less than $50,000 a year will see a more modest increase to $35 a month. Depending on the individual, that represents an annual premium increase from $120 to $660.
Treasurer Brad Briner said the hikes are needed to address a $507 million annual deficit for the insurance program. A mini budget enacted earlier this month put a dent in that by providing $100 million to the Health Plan.
“These increases were necessary to keep the Plan solvent and to keep this benefit in place for those that serve and have served the state of North Carolina,” Briner said in a statement.
Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, said at the meeting that she felt the increases could have been avoided.
“The absolute, abject, and gross power of the corporate health care machine is unchecked in this country, and it’s absolutely out of control in this state,” Watkins said.
— Bryan Anderson
‘Compromised’ Video Got Him Life in Prison. He Wants a New Trial.
In 2011, when James Richardson stood trial for a drive-by double murder outside a nightclub in Greenville, N.C., Pitt County’s district attorney used a surveillance camera video to argue that the former professional basketball player had acted alone, driving a BMW while firing his gun out its passenger window.
Now, Richardson’s lawyers say new evidence proves the video that helped convict him was a misleading, low-quality copy of the original, and that the DA’s lone gunman theory was physically impossible.
On August 26, they’ll argue before N.C. Superior Court Judge Henry Hight Jr. that these new findings merit a full evidentiary hearing, with sworn witnesses. “We obviously fully believe James is absolutely innocent,” says the Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s Jake Sussman, who leads Richardson’s legal team. Their goal: a new trial.
— Pam Kelley
Feds to Lumbee: Call Your Congressman
When President Donald Trump ordered the Department of the Interior in January to submit a report outlining ways for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to get full federal recognition, some lauded the move as historic and long overdue.
The Interior Department’s report, however, was met with less fanfare. Its central message, as best we can discern from people who have seen it: Keep asking Congress.
Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson for the Interior, told The Assembly and the Border Belt Independent that the report was submitted to the White House on April 8. She wouldn’t provide a copy.
— Sarah Nagem
Come to My Side
The NFL regular season is approaching, which means it’s time for the annual antics of Rep. Tricia Cotham, the Mecklenburg County Republican who inexplicably cheers for the Dallas Cowboys and likes to poke at my Buffalo Bills fandom.
While the two teams don’t play each other this year (let’s be honest: It wouldn’t be a competition even if they did), that didn’t stop her from making a friendly tag.
I’m now calling on Cotham to once again switch parties. Not a political conversion. A sports one.
If anyone wishes to join me in roasting her horrendous taste in football teams, share this post and give her a friendly tag on Twitter. She loves nothing more than hearing what people have to say on social media.
— Bryan Anderson
Around the State: As Medicaid cuts loom, North Carolina shows the stakes (Washington Post). Rep. Don Davis, an N.C. Democrat, embraces Andrew Yang‘s centrist Forward Party (WUNC). NC ramps up efforts to collect $101K owed by a nonprofit run by the wife of former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (WRAL). Poll shows Roy Cooper ahead, economic concerns top of mind for voters (Carolina Journal). Jamie Ager in NC-11 is one of a new crop of Democrats looking to flip Trump-heavy districts (Associated Press).
Upcoming Birthday: Rep. Julia Howard on Wednesday, Aug. 20.
Let us know what’s on your radar at politics@theassemblync.com.