League of Women Voters of North Carolina

Now that HB-120, the local public financing authorization bill, has been approved by the state House and is alive for the rest of the session, our attention has turned to passage of the Council of State bill, SB-966, Expand Voter-Owned Elections. It needs to be approved by at least one chamber before the May 14th crossover deadline.

After the long battle for HB-120 in the House, we've decided to try our luck with the Senate. And so far, so good. SB-966 has been scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary 1 committee Tuesday, May 12th. The meeting will be from 9am to 11am in 1024 LB.

The League supported a number of campaign reform measures during the 2007 legislative session:

a Council of State public funding pilot, H-1517, which passed at the 11th hour,
a pilot for funding legislative races did not make it out of either chamber (This legislation will not be taken up in the 2008 short session, which convenes May 13.),
‘Same-day registration’, H-19, which allows residents to register and vote at the same time at early voting sites in their county,
H-483, allowing for a pilot for public funding of municipal elections in Chapel Hill,
legislation, H-1024, that allowed for ‘Instant runoff’ voting in Cary and Hendersonville during the 2007 elections, and
a bill to strengthen the judicial fund, to allow matching funds to compensate for money spent by issue groups targeting for judicial candidates who opted for public campaign funds. Although a number of judges were targeted in 2006, most judges are opting to use the fund again in 2008. A provision to match similar 527 spending is already in the Council of State pilot bill.

For a bit more information on these bills, see Synopsis of 2007 legislative achievement. For the nitty gritty, see below.

What’s happening now? Working closely with a coalition of groups interested in campaign reform, we continue to advance legislation that provides for freer elections. North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections has produced a 2006 and 2007 Legislative Scorecard showing how legislators across the state voted on campaign reform bills. Know how your legislator voted. If you would like to get involved in working for election reform in NC, please contact Louise Romanow at LWVNCCampaignReform@earthlink.net.
Updated May 10, 2009.

2007 House legislative public financing pilot bill (did not pass)

In accordance with the League of Women Voters' position of promoting political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government, the LWVNC supports instant runoff voting (IRV) for all statewide and local elections.

LWVNC Position on Redistricting

Join other League members at Clean Elections Lobby Day, June 17th

Campaign Reform

Public Financing of Judicial Races

Public Funding of Legislative Races

Public Funding of Executive Races (Council of State)

Local Funding

Same Day Registration

Redistricting

Other Election Reform

League Partners