Durham Reporter

A Republican state Senate candidate suggested that changes to weaken absentee ballot rules were a form of voter suppression. 

In an interview with the Durham Reporter, Senate District 22 candidate Rick Padgett said about his voter suppression suggestion: “The true concern for every North Carolina voter should be what are we willing to do to stop it.” 

North Carolina Democrats and Republicans have been battling over voting regulations amid COVID-19.  The state Board of Elections recently settled a lawsuit that allowed voters who submitted their absentee ballot without a witness signature to provide an affidavit confirming a witness. 

Though unanimously approved by the bipartisan Board of Elections, the settlement soon after resulted in the two GOP members resigning, claiming being deceived and sparking more political election-related controversy in the Tar Heel State. 

Ken Raymond and David Black both said that there were measures in the settlement that went further in altering state election procedures than they had believed they would, CNN reported in September. Damon Circosta, board chair and one of the three Democrats, claimed that Raymond and Black’s accusations of potential partisan intent were without merit.

“It is clear that the governor is more concerned about his reelection, he is willing to strip away the very protections that guarantee a fair and honest election,” Padgett told the Durham Reporter in an email. “His willingness to degrade and devalue the election process along with the voters in the state of North Carolina is nothing other than predictable of him and his party.”

Several key positions are for election this year in North Carolina, including the governor’s office and Department of Public Instruction. 

“Right now we are at the mercy of a bootleg NC Supreme Court filled with the governor’s team of liberals hell-bent on destroying real American and North Carolina Values through their school of Indoctrination and not education. We need NC Statesman, not Social Warriors, to work for and represent North Carolina.”