Cabarrus County Democratic Women

CCDW NEWSLETTER

Cabarrus County Democratic Women PO Box 443, Harrisburg, NC 28075 Volume 3, Number 5 May 2017

No May Meeting – Combined June I swear we're just one or two steps away from a Swiftian modest proposal from Republicans. Meeting First they threaten to take the Children's Health Insurance Program hostage unless Democrats There will be no May meeting, instead, there work with them to take health insurance away will be a combined June meeting with the from their parents. Oh, wait! Trumpcare won't Cabarrus County Senior Democrats as indicated just take health care away from their parents! below. The speaker will be Wayne Goodman, Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

Where: Troutman’s Barbecue, 362 Church Street N, Concord, NC

When: Tuesday. June 13, 2017

Time: 6:30pm Dinner (if desired), 7:00pm Program starts

Dinner: Including drinks and tax (gratuity not The House GOP’s ObamaCare replacement bill included) - $8.00 would result in a cut of $43 billion over 10 years in funding for Medicaid coverage of children, according to a new study.

The study from the consulting firm Avalere finds that the cuts to coverage for non-disabled children would come as a result of a new cap on Medicaid payments that the bill would impose, known as a per capita cap. “Over time, per capita caps could significantly Republicans really do hate the reduce the amount of funding that goes children towards Medicaid coverage for children,” Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere, said in a From www.dailykos.com on Sunday, May 21, statement. “While local control and more 2017 efficient operation of Medicaid programs are laudable goals, coverage and access for low income children are ultimately dictated by

1 federal funding, and reductions of this Republicans had literally ordered data on which magnitude could disrupt access.” voting methods black voters used more frequently than white voters, then eliminated But they're poor kids, so what does it matter? those very methods . Some of the GOP’s other They should be working for their health care, changes to the law included a harsh voter ID just like they should have to work for their requirement that precluded types of ID that school lunch . Maybe we should just forego black voters were more likely to possess; cuts school and health care and put 'em in work to early voting hours and locations; an end to houses. That'd solve the problem, right? same-day registration; the elimination of pre- registration for 16- and 17-year-olds who Voting Eights Roundup: Supreme would turn 18 by the next election; and Court won’t revive North Carolina preventing voters from casting ballots if they showed up at the wrong precinct, even if they GOP’s racist voter suppression law were in the right county. Republicans even sought to eliminate early voting on Sundays, From www.dailykos.com on Friday, May 10, specifically because predominantly black 2017 churches have historically conducted “souls to the polls” voter drives following services right before Election Day. Republicans defended their law by claiming that it didn’t target black voters because of their race but rather because they vote heavily Democratic —still a brazenly undemocratic argument. However, the appeals court’s ruling rejected these claims, holding that when party and race are so intertwined as they are throughout the South , targeting the party that black voters overwhelmingly support (and whites largely don’t) via methods that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) knowingly single out black voters still amounted to intentional racial discrimination and was thus illegal. LEADING OFF While the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the ● North Carolina: On Monday, the Supreme appeal does, as noted, leave the lower court’s Court delivered a monumental victory for decision in place, it’s important to note that the voting rights when it declined to hear an appeal high court’s conservative majority didn’t rule from Republican North Carolina legislators against the law on the merits . The court hinted seeking to reinstate one of the broadest that one reason why it might not have taken up restrictive voting laws since Jim Crow after an the case was due to the thorny legal issue of appeals court struck it down in last year. “standing,” a doctrine that governs who Passed almost immediately after the Supreme actually has the right to bring a lawsuit. Court gutted a key part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 , this voter suppression law was so This issue grew complicated because North flagrantly and intentionally discriminatory that Carolina’s governor and the state board of the appellate judges declared it targeted black elections were the original defendants, but voters “with almost surgical precision.” that’s since changed. After Democratic Gov. Monday’s Supreme Court decision means that Roy Cooper narrowly ousted Republican Pat that ruling will now stand. McCrory , the incumbent governor at the time,

2 in last year’s pivotal election, Cooper declined and GOP Gov. Chris Sununu supports it, though to continue the Republicans’ appeal , leaving no such legislation might be unconstitutional . one with obvious legal standing to defend the ● Texas: Texas’ Republican-majority state law. Senate followed up on a recent state House As a result, this sweeping victory could prove vote by approving a bill to end the straight- temporary, since it does not preclude future ticket voting option , sending it back to the rulings that are hostile to voting rights in other lower chamber to reconcile slight differences upcoming major cases. Indeed, North Carolina’s with the House version. The Senate GOP’s Republican legislators almost immediately proposal would leave the option in place for began talking about passing new measures in the 2018 elections and delay implementation response to the Supreme Court’s decision, and until the 2020 presidential cycle. GOP Gov. since the court didn’t express any opinion Greg Abbott has not made his stance on the bill about the merits of the now-invalidated law, known, but he has supported a slew of new voter suppression measures could survive Republican-backed voting restrictions in the future litigation. past. If Republicans do attempt to pass new voting A majority of voters in recent elections have restrictions, they do so under the cloud of the used this option , meaning its removal will likely Fourth Circuit’s finding of intentional racial lead to significantly longer voting times. It discrimination, which could be grounds to force could also prompt an increase in North Carolina to obtain Justice Department “undervoting”—that is, voters skipping lower- approval for all voting procedure changes. This profile races further down the ballot—because “preclearance” regime existed for several Texas often has several dozen partisan offices mostly Southern states with a history of up for election each year, including more discriminatory voting laws until the Supreme obscure contests like those for judgeships. Court’s aforementioned 2013 Voting Rights Act Studies have shown that black and Latino ruling. While Attorney General Jeff Sessions is voters are more likely to use the straight-ticket unlikely to block any voter suppression efforts , option than whites, so its elimination will likely a future Democratic administration could. That disproportionately harm them via longer voting threat might blunt the edges of anything GOP lines, which could deter voters from casting a legislators try to pass in 2017. ballot entirely and consequently benefit Republicans. VOTER SUPPRESSION ● New Hampshire: Granite State Republicans FELONY DISENFRANCHISEMENT have passed a bill out of a state House ● Alabama: Alabama’s heavily Republican committee on a party-line vote that would legislature passed a bill to redefine the term tighten residency requirements needed to “moral turpitude” for the purposes of vote, an effort that appears to be targeted at determining which types of felonies result in Democratic-leaning demographics like college voter disenfranchisement. This might sound students. The new provision would require that like an arcane issue, but it’s of major those registering to vote provide proof of their importance, because the term’s broad “domicile,” not just their residency, which interpretation included nearly every felony on means that registrants would need to provide the books, leading to a widespread restriction documentation demonstrating that they in voting rights. Instead, the new definition will actually live at their address day-to-day. The cover fewer than 50 specific offenses. A state Senate previously passed a slightly spokesperson for GOP Gov. Kay Ivey said her different version of the bill along party lines, boss “will probably sign it,” but veto override

3 only requires a simple majority in the event redistricting-watchers have long known: The that Ivey tries to block the bill. redistricting plans passed in the wake of the According to the Sentencing Project, Alabama 2010 census give Republicans a monumental bans one in 13 citizens from voting , including and consistent advantage nationwide. one in six African-Americans, making it one of Although these tests don’t necessarily the worst states when it comes to felony determine the root causes of these advantage, disenfranchisement. This change is a positive states with single-party control over the first step that could lead to the restoration of redistricting process stand out as having the voting rights for tens of thousands of Alabama worst disparities between the popular vote and citizens, but its precise potential impact is seat counts. (For instance, Donald Trump unclear and would still leave many without the won Michigan by 0.2 percentage points, but right to vote. This includes those who have fully Republicans hold 64 percent of the state’s served out their sentences, meaning there is congressional districts.)(…) still a long way to go to correct this racially Indeed, Daily Kos Elections’ own past work has discriminatory policy. used hypothetical nonpartisan maps to demonstrate that intentional gerrymandering is REDISTRICTING likely responsible for the vast majority of this ● Alabama: As expected, the Republican- GOP edge. Other factors, such as the controlled state House has passed the state geographic “clustering” of Democrats into cities Senate’s bill to redraw the upper chamber’s while Republicans are more efficiently spread districts following a federal court ruling earlier out over wider territory, do also likely play a this year that struck down a dozen seats across role . both chambers on the grounds that they The Brennan report’s three statistical tests represented an unconstitutional racial include a novel approach known as the gerrymander. The Senate will likely follow suit “efficiency gap.” Proponents of this approach by approving the House’s recent bill to redraw hope it will undergird a new effort asking the the lower chamber’s maps before the Supreme Court to start striking down partisan legislative session ends on Friday. gerrymanders as unconstitutional, which it just Democratic legislators, many of whom are might do in an upcoming Wisconsin case that’s black, have vociferously opposed the new maps likely headed before the high court this fall. for failing to remedy the racial harms of the The efficiency gap aims to measure how many existing districts, but with dominant GOP votes for each party are “wasted” in legislative majorities, there is little that they can do to or congressional races by counting up all the prevent these bills from passing. However, the votes for a losing candidate and for a winning same federal court will ultimately get to review candidate that were in excess of the minimum any new maps before they go into effect, and needed to actually win that race. It then divides voting rights proponents will almost certainly that total for each party by the statewide two- object to the new maps in court, so this case party vote total and compares the percentage could eventually wind up back before the of wasted votes between each party to Supreme Court once again. produce an efficiency gap.(…) ● Gerrymandering: The Brennan Center for Justice published a major new report on Tuesday that uses multiple statistical measures to examine how congressional maps around the country mete out partisan advantages to one party or the other. The study provides detailed mathematical evidence for what