EVERYONE CAN PARTICIPATE
Democracy requires everyone to have a voice in the decisions affecting their lives from equal access to the ballot box to the right to have your voice heard above the special interests that try to buy our elections. The legislature should give a greater voice to each citizen and lower barriers to participation in political life.
Protecting and Expanding Access to the Polls and Increasing Voter Participation
1) Protect the Right to Vote. Ensure that NO North Carolina law shall deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the state to vote on account of race.
2) Stop Voter Intimidation. Increase penalties for deceptive practices and establish a code of conduct of poll workers, election observers and election officials.
3) Increase Student Access to Voting. Take measures to ensure students have access to the political process for example guarantee polling sites at college campuses with more than 4,500 students.
4) Work to align municipal elections schedules to a standard calendar to increase voter participation.
Improving Redistricting and Representation
5) End gerrymandering – establish rules that make the process of drawing legislative and congressional districts fair and transparent, facilitate citizen involvement, forbid the use of political data, and establish a commission that removes legislators from drawing or approving district maps.
Safeguarding Civic Participation
6) Protect the Right to Protest. Reject legislation and policy practices that infringe on the public's right to protest. Peaceful assembly to voice concerns or support regarding government action is a hallmark of our democracy, and should be defended.
Changing the Way Elections Are Funded by Empowering Small Donors
7) Allow large municipalities to pass local clean election laws to reduce the influence of big political donors and special interests money by making local public funds available to local candidates who turn down big campaign contributions and build support from their community.
8) Reenact judicial clean election laws to keep big donors’ influence out of our courts by making small donor matching funds available to statewide judicial candidates who turn down big campaign contributions and build support from their state.
Secure Elections Against Foreign Interference
9) Update Voting Infrastructure - by ensuring that the state and counties have the resources needed to upgrade voting machines and databases, conduct regular post-election audits, and undertake continuous threat assessments from foreign influence and others and remediation.
EVERYONE DESERVES TO KNOW
Voters have a right to know who is spending money to influence our vote and our elected representatives. The legislature should strengthen disclosure laws in elections and increase the transparency of campaign and lobbying activities to give the public more information on who is impacting our elections and legislative decisions.
10) Close Digital Disclosure Loopholes by updating our laws to require disclaimers and disclosure, closing loopholes, and ensuring full disclosure for all paid for digital political campaign ads.
11) Establish an Accessible Online Voter’s Guide on N.C. State Board of Elections website that would provide basic information about candidates for statewide, legislative and judicial elections.
12) Support Voter’s Right to Know the original sources of all electoral spending.
13) Help repeal Citizens United by passing a state resolution opposing the decision.
EVERYONE IS HELD ACCOUNTABLE
An open and transparent government requires strong enforcement of our laws and real consequences for those who violate them. The legislature should close loopholes in our election and ethics laws and make sure that state agencies and prosecutors have the tools they need to ensure enforcement and accountability and combat corruption.
14) Strengthen and enforce the revolving door law to prohibit elected officials from negotiating future jobs while in office and bar them from paid lobbying activities for two years once they leave.
15) Remove conflict of interest from our courts – Adopt an objective recusal procedure so the judges who take money from someone cannot preside over their case.