Amid stories of companies giving their employees the day off to encourage voting, the debuts of political campaign ads for both the left and the right, and the constant reminder to get out and vote, preserving the integrity of the voting system has become increasingly important.
But Francis De Luca, a leader at the Civitas Institute, has made moves recently to minimize voter fraud and ensure that the November elections go smoothly and are free of questionable tactics and actions.
De Luca, whose conservative think tank is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, is standing tall against the sweeping federal ruling that limited the state’s ability to impose stricter voting regulation on its citizens, turning instead to the local level to ensure a fraud-free voting process.
While many from the left defended the federal court ruling, leaders like De Luca defend that every American voter’s right to participate in an accurate ballot that is free of partisan tactics that could potentially threaten the truthfulness and fairness of our election process.
For example, straight-ticket voting–the act of checking one box to cast a vote for an entire party’s representatives–easily allows for an expedited process and shorter lines. Because, after all, what could be more valuable or precious than time, especially for the hard-working people who are heavily invested in the future of the country.
There is no greater priority than making sure that every voter experiences a seamless selection process in which they have the utmost confidence. But denying straight-ticket voting would decrease this confidence while increasing the inconvenience to the voter.
De Luca points to the questionable choice of county boards across the state to expand early voting and late registration during the 2008 election, arguing that the then-Democratically controlled boards made those decisions to benefit Barack Obama.
However, now that the boards are controlled primarily by the right, the tides seem to be shifting. The next few months will reveal how voters in North Carolina and other states will be affected.
