News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
A defeated Republican candidate is exploiting ‘an administrative hiccup’ to erase the ballots of 1,576 Buncombe County voters
The ballots cast by 1,576 Buncombe County voters in the Nov. 5 election could be nullified if Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin succeeds in challenging his razor-thin loss to incumbent Associate Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat.
The Buncombe County ballots make up a small fraction of the 60,000 ballots cast by voters across North Carolina that Griffin seeks to erase from the 5.5 million votes counted in that race. His goal is to flip the results by persuading the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court to call for a recount of the balloting minus those targeted voters, or to order a new election.
According to numerous analyses of the targeted voters, a lawsuit filed by Griffin could disqualify a disproportionate number of voters who historically favor Democratic candidates, especially those age 25 and younger.
The lawsuit also disproportionately targets Buncombe County’s Democratic voters by disqualifying the ballots of three times as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans. That impact goes beyond the Democratic Party’s long-existing, though narrower, edge over Republicans in the county.
Griffin’s lawsuit does not identify a single fraudulent ballot among the 60,000 he’s contesting, a point emphasized by opponents and contrary to the basis for most disputed elections.
Instead, the Republican’s challenge alleges that clerical flaws on the targeted voters’ registration records are sufficient to disqualify the ballots despite the fact that the voters played no role in these alleged mistakes.
“This is norm breaking,” said Western Carolina University professor Chris Cooper, an expert on North Carolina elections. “Calling for recounts in close elections is normal. But this is much different.
“Norm-breaking doesn’t begin to describe this.”
Several Buncombe County voters targeted in the lawsuit responded with a mix of confusion about how they allegedly violated election law, and anger over the prospect of having their votes nullified.
“I don’t think there could be anything I did that would make my ballot illegitimate,” said Esther Holsen of West Asheville, a North Carolina resident since 1992 who has been voting since 1976.
“But I’m not so much shocked as I am annoyed because, at this point, just about anything can happen in politics,” said Holsen, a Democrat.
John Nicolay, a self-described independent voter who said he prefers to choose candidates based on merit rather than party affiliation, told The Watchdog that he is beyond annoyed.
“If my ballot is tossed, I will have a big problem [with being targeted] because someone just negated my right to vote,” he said. “Forget what party you’re in, I don’t buy that.”
Anthony Turco and his wife Sally Turco, Republicans who live in Weaverville, learned they were on the targeted list when Anthony was contacted by The Watchdog. He said the couple registered to vote together at the county elections department in 2011 and provided all the information requested and showed proper photo identification when they participated in early voting.
“I don’t have any idea about what this could be about,” Turco said.
Of the more than 5.5 million ballots cast in the state Supreme Court race, Riggs prevailed by 734 votes. Despite two recounts and reviews by a county and the state Board of Elections, Griffin failed to close the gap.
But he refused to concede defeat, choosing instead to file the lawsuit seeking a court-ordered recount of the reshaped electorate minus the targeted voters or – in a hail-Mary move – persuading the state Supreme Court to call a new special election.
In both cases, Griffin’s goal is to reverse the election outcome and boot Riggs from the Supreme Court. The Court accepted jurisdiction in the case and held a preliminary hearing earlier this month, putting itself in the unprecedented position of interfering in a campaign to choose a colleague.
Five of the Supreme Court’s seven members are Republicans and, because Riggs has recused herself from the case, the Republicans will hold a 5-1 majority when considering Griffin’s challenge.
The case has drawn the attention of critics across the country, including Democrats who say Riggs could be the victim of judicial gerrymandering. The mantra “stop the steal” is being applied by Riggs supporters in a twist of that phrase coinedby Donald Trump supporters after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
At the core of the criticism is Griffin’s mass targeting of more than 60,000 voters based on these voters’ alleged failures to record driver’s license or Social Security numbers on their electronic registrations. Griffin also targeted only those voters who participated in early voting, apparently because their ballots could be readily obtained and cross-tabulated against the other criteria.
Complicating the case is the fact that if Griffin’s lawsuit succeeds, it will also impact other state and county races in which the targeted voters cast ballots, possibly reversing the result in some.
Cooper, the political analyst, said the prospect of creating cascading chaos in countless other races to satisfy Griffin may prove too daunting for even a Republican majority on the Court.
A more likely outcome, he said, would be for the Supreme Court to throw out the entire results of the Griffin-Riggs race and order a special election.
“The court might say, ‘We can’t simply take away these people’s ballots when some of them may have done the right thing,’ but,” Cooper continued, “there was an administrative hiccup somewhere, so therefore they’ll call for a brand new election.”
The Griffin campaign didn’t respond to written questions from The Watchdog seeking an explanation for the mass-targeting tactic and whether Griffin had concerns about a voter backlash. Matt Mercer, the state GOP’s communications director, has defended the tactic saying that discrepancies in the voter data files were brought to the state Board of Elections’ attention two years ago and no action was taken.
Whether the campaign developed an algorithm to target voters more likely to back the Democratic candidate still remains a puzzle for election analysts. Among the 60,000 challenged voters are many registered in both major parties, as well as those independents registered as unaffiliated.
But deliberate or not, there is evidence that the targeted group leans more toward Democratic candidates than the state’s electorate as a whole. An analysis by the Raleigh News & Observer found that voters between ages 18 and 25 are disproportionately included.
These young voters make up 23 percent of the challenged group, although they are just 12 percent of the electorate. Cooper said this group historically favors Democrats over Republicans.
A Watchdog analysis of the 1,576 Buncombe County voters found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the targeted group by a ratio of nearly three to one, although Democrats’ edge is just three to two among all Buncombe County voters.
With rare exceptions, these voters shared the fact that they cast their ballots in person during the early voting period, and their original county voter-registration record lacked driver’s license numbers.
The law, which took effect in 2004, doesn’t require a voter to have a driver’s license and allows several alternative forms of identification such as government-issued IDs, passports and birth certificates. A new state law that took effect in 2024 requires a voter to show an authorized ID when casting a ballot during in-person voting.
Cooper said he doubts the Griffin campaign developed an algorithm to scan the 2024 ballots with the intention of cherry-picking those most likely cast for his opponent and increasing his chances of reversing the outcome. Rather they saw the records’ discrepancies as a way to legitimize a lawsuit.
“Griffin needed to find a legal horse he could ride to get into court,” Cooper said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Tom Fiedler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter and dean emeritus from Boston University who lives in Asheville. Email him at tfiedler@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Federal tax credits, other awards spur development of more than 5,000 affordable apartments in NC
SUMMARY: North Carolina is addressing its affordable housing shortage through federal tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and state loans to build and rehab 5,012 affordable apartments valued at nearly $1.5 billion across over two dozen counties. The N.C. Housing Finance Agency selected 50 projects from 74 applications, including units for families, seniors, and people with disabilities. The Workforce Housing Loan Program, crucial for rural and moderate-income areas, received $34.7 million for 28 projects but faces uncertain future funding. Advocates warn that without its restoration, developments may concentrate in urban areas, limiting rural housing options and disaster recovery efforts. The initiative supports thousands of jobs and significant tax revenue.
The post Federal tax credits, other awards spur development of more than 5,000 affordable apartments in NC appeared first on ncnewsline.com
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Epstein victims, family members speak exclusively with NBC
SUMMARY: Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and their families are meeting with lawmakers, demanding justice and the release of all DOJ files related to Epstein. Despite the Trump administration claiming no new information exists, survivors say they have been ignored and unprotected. The House Oversight Committee released over 30,000 pages of Epstein files, mostly public already, while a bipartisan petition seeks full disclosure. Survivors emphasize the need for accountability and urge President Trump to rule out a pardon for convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence but was recently moved to a lower-security prison. They seek justice and protection for victims.
Survivors of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and family members of those women are spending two days talking with lawmakers. Members of Congress are pushing for the DOJ to release all files related to Epstein — despite the Trump administration saying there’s nothing new in those files. In an NBC exclusive, one group of survivors shares what justice would look like for them
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Charlotte primary elections could have high impact in NC
Mecklenburg County is one of 10 North Carolina counties with primary elections this fall. Charlotte is one of even fewer municipalities with contests set for next week. In the largely Democratic stronghold, the primaries generally decide the overall winner.
Turnout is usually low. In the 2023 mayoral primary, about 5% of registered voters made their way to the polls, according to State Board of Elections data. This year appears to be no different. As of Aug. 29, just under 1,000 Charlotteans had voted by mail or at the city’s sole early voting site, according to the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections. The election is Tuesday, Sept. 9.
Don’t let the low interest fool you. The results of Charlotte’s primary elections will significantly impact both the city and North Carolina as a whole.
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The mayor and City Council create policy, approve a budget and appoint key city staff members. And as the most populous city in North Carolina, and the 14th-most populous city in the United States, what happens in Charlotte may be a model for what happens elsewhere.
Nearly a dozen primary and general candidates shared what might be at stake in the election with Carolina Public Press.
Among the top issues were the city’s transit future, public safety, an affordable housing shortage and an alleged lack of transparency and accountability among Charlotte’s current elected officials.
Who’s running in Charlotte?
Every two years, Charlotte voters pick their mayor and 11 council members — one from each of the city’s seven districts, and four at-large members.
In the mayoral race, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles is running for her fifth term. Since winning her first primary against former Democratic Mayor Jennifer Roberts in 2017 by 10 percentage points, Lyles hasn’t faced much resistance.
Several candidates hope they can flip the margins in their favor this time around. Jaraun (Gemini) Boyd, Delter Guin III, Brendan Maginnis and Tigress McDaniel all threw their hats in the ring this cycle.
Ten Democrats are vying for four spots in the at-large City Council general election contest, where they will face Republicans Misun Kim and Edwin Peacock for four overall council seats.
Incumbents Victoria Watlington, LaWana Slack-Mayfield, James Mitchell Jr. and Dimple Ajmera are joined by challengers Matt Britt, Roderick Davis, Will Holley, J.G. Lockhart, Emerson Stoldt and Namrata Yadav.
Incumbent Democrat Malcolm Graham is running unopposed in District 2, which stretches from western uptown to the northwestern part of the city. Republican Ed Driggs is also unopposed in District 7, in the city’s southeastern corner.
In District 1, which includes most of uptown and surrounding areas, incumbent Democrat Dante Anderson faces Charlene Henderson El in the primary, but the winner will have no general opponent.
There aren’t general election opponents in the District 4 race between incumbent Democrat Renee Perkins Johnson and Wil Russell or the District 5 race between incumbent Democrat Marjorie Molina and Juan Diego Mazuera. District 4 is the city’s northern neighborhoods including the university area, while District 5 is eastern Charlotte between uptown and Mint Hill.
Three Democratic candidates — Warren Turner, Joi Mayo and Montravias King — are running against incumbent Democrat Tiawana Brown in the District 3 primary election, and Republican James Bowers will face the victor. District 3 is located in western and southwestern Charlotte.
Finally, District 6, just southeast of the city’s center, will be a contest between Sary Chakra and Krista Bokhari in the Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat Kimberly Owens. There is no incumbent in the race but the current District 6 council member is a Republican.
Local Democratic parties do not endorse in primary races, but the Black Political Caucus does. Its opinion holds weight for many voters.
BPC endorsed Lyles for mayor, and the incumbent City Council members in every district but district 3, where they endorsed Joi Mayo over incumbent Tiawana Brown, and district 6, where they endorsed Democrat Kimberly Owens in absence of an incumbent.
Current Charlotte Council controversies
There’s no shortage of drama in Charlotte local politics.
In May, council member Tiawana Brown was indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud. Brown and her two daughters allegedly filed false applications to get more than $124,000 in COVID pandemic relief funds, which were later used for unrelated expenses, including a $15,000 birthday party celebration.
Brown isn’t the only incumbent facing controversy.
Charlotte Police Chief Johnny Jennings allegedly threatened to sue the city for text messages he received from former City Council member Tariq Bokhari threatening to get him fired during an argument over officer protective vests. In a closed session, the city agreed to settle with Jennings for $305,000, which was uncovered by WFAE.
Bokhari resigned to take the number two spot in President Donald Trump’s transit administration. His wife, Krista Bokhari, is running to replace his District 6 seat in what many consider the only truly competitive race of the cycle. Bokhari has a Republican primary challenger, Sary Chakra, and a Democratic general opponent, Kimberly Owens.
Owens doesn’t like the proximity to Trump’s “chaos” that having Bokhari on the council might cause, she said.
“I don’t like the optics of someone sitting on our City Council who could conceivably, now that we’ve had some violence on our city lines, put up a flag and say, ‘Hey, Trump, we need you to send in the National Guard,’” she said.
At-large City Council member Victoria Watlington is also under fire for calling the city’s settlement with the police chief “unethical, immoral, and, frankly, illegal” in an email to constituents.
Jennings will retire at the end of the year, giving the new City Council power over the direction of the police department.
Mayor Lyles hasn’t escaped her fair share of criticism, either. The Charlotte Observer found that since December 2023, there were only three meetings where all council members and the mayor showed up and were on time. Lyles’ attendance record was 82%, the fourth-worst in the group.
Need for change
J.G. Lockhart feels a disconnect between Charlotte’s leadership and its tradition, culture and values. Many of the current City Council members aren’t Charlotte natives, and he wants to change that.
“A lot of people (who) are currently on (the) council have an idea of what they think is in Charlotte’s best interest, but those ideas are coming from other cities that they’re from, and Charlotte is a different kind of city,” he said.
It’s time for a changing of the guard, he said.
Namrata Yadav, who is running as an at-large candidate, wants to hold elected officials to a higher standard.
“We are growing at a pace that is surpassing expectations,” she said. “So, we need people who are competent and can see what the future of possibilities look like, and are working for the city and not just for their own benefit.”
Brendan Maginnis stepped up to run for mayor to give Lyles some competition. Maginnis, a former Marine who ran for a U.S. House seat last year, said he has the grassroots organization and campaign experience to get the job done, if people are paying attention.
That’s a big if. But Maginnis sees leadership in need of reform. Lyles has done good work Maginnis hopes to expand, but it’s time for new ideas, and a new example, he said.
“People are going to look at leaders, which the mayor is the leader of City Council, and they’re going to take their cue from them,” Maginnis said. “And so if she’s absent, then they’re absent, and then what do you end up having is a dysfunctional City Council that leaves 10 minutes early and is not really getting the job done.”
He would like to add transparency to city government through a participatory budgeting process, a citizens commission that would review major decisions and an elected official scorecard tracking their votes and attendance, he said.
Mecklenburg Transit
The separation between Democratic candidates in Charlotte is about the size of a penny — that is, the 1-cent sales tax increase referendum on November’s ballot for all Mecklenburg County residents.
In July, the North Carolina legislature passed the PAVE Act, which gave Mecklenburg County the go-ahead to raise sales taxes to pay for major road, rail and bus transportation projects, if the voters approve the ballot referendum in November.
If approved, the county would create a 27-member transit authority to decide how the money is spent.
Wil Russell supports the referendum. If the transit plan were enacted, the Red Line commuter rail would run through Charlotte’s District 4, where he’s running for office. Russell said it’s important to give people transportation options other than cars.
“I think just in general, Charlotte does need help with infrastructure and transit,” he said. “And so this is an opportunity to provide those funds in order to expand our bus system, expand roads and expand transit options across the city.”
Lockhart is staunchly against the tax. In 1998, when Charlotte passed a half-cent tax referendum to fund transportation, it went poorly, he said.
A collective of mayors with little to no transportation experience were in charge of managing the system, and all Charlotte got out of it was the Blue Line and several billion missing dollars, Lockhart said.
What Charlotte really needs is a better bussing system so fewer people are on the road, he added.
Current councilmember LaWana Slack-Mayfield can’t support the tax either. She takes issue with the financial burden falling on the city instead of the state or federal government, since Charlotte is one of the largest financial contributors to the state.
Yadav sees the need for transit, but understands the city hasn’t always been transparent about how it’s spending money. She supports putting actual transit riders on the transit authority, not just corporate representatives.
Mayoral candidate Tigress McDaniel also acknowledged that Charlotte needs to invest in infrastructure, but thinks the current plan is underdeveloped.
Public Safety
Four days after a Ukrainian woman was stabbed on the Charlotte Area Transit System’s Blue Line by a homeless man, Mayor Lyles issued a statement.
“CATS, by and large, is a safe transit system,” Lyles wrote. “However, tragic incidents like these should force us to look at what we are doing across our community to address root causes. We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health.”
To some, the delayed response was a sign of passive leadership.
“That’s unacceptable,” said District 3 City Council candidate Montravias King. “Where are you at? Are you checked out? Has the mayor checked out four days to respond? Crime itself is a problem, and we need leaders that are going to show up and lead, get out front.”
While violent crime has significantly declined in Charlotte in the past year, property theft and car break-ins have remained concerns for residents.
Libertarian mayoral candidate Rob Yates feels that community policing efforts at CMPD have been effective, despite the prominence of crime headlines. He thinks the city should expand its current efforts, but that crime concerns are slightly overblown.
Owens has a unique solution to crime concerns: get people back in the office. While she understands the resistance to return-to-office policies, she feels that bringing more people into city spaces will make people feel safer.
She also suggested focusing on better ticketing enforcement and more camera monitoring on transit, which would require investing in the recruitment and retention of police officers.
Republican at-large city council candidate Edwin Peacock agreed that CATS needs to address its open gate system.
“Fare evasion to many just seems like kind of a minor issue, but it really is kind of an underpinning of who do you have on the train, and how safe is it when you’re riding,” he said.
Housing and development
Affordable housing is on nearly everyone’s mind in Charlotte.
In the region encompassing Charlotte, Concord and Gastonia, half of renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend over 30% of their income on housing, according to a 2025 National Low Income Housing Coalition report. Low-cost rentals in Mecklenburg County dropped from about half to 12% of total rental stock between 2011 and 2022, according to Census data.
District 4 in the northern portion of Charlotte is one of the last green spaces in the city, Russell said. Residents are concerned about over development, said Russell, who is an affordable housing construction manager.
In general, District 5 candidate Juan Diego Mazuera feels like Charlotte has prioritized corporate and private interests over voters’ interests. While he is the youngest candidate in the election at 27, he doesn’t think seats are owned by anyone.
“We are at a crossroads where we decide who we prioritize and value most: The workers and the people who contribute to the revenue that is generated by these corporations, or the corporation?” Mazuera said.
McDaniel isn’t buying the mayor’s assertion that the city is creating more affordable housing, she said.
“The incumbent has made claims for the last three elections that she has been working with developers to combat the issue of affordable housing, and yet they build another high rise that is even more expensive rent wise than one before,” she said.
However, Peacock thinks Charlotte is doing about as much as it can do on affordable housing already. At the same time, local leaders need to focus on economic mobility — creating larger household incomes so Charlotteans can support themselves in a growing, more expensive area, he said.
How the city addresses its growth is important statewide, he added. Buncombe, New Hanover and Wake County are also growing areas, and will take notes based on how Charlotte leads the way, Peacock said.
Decisive Charlotte primaries
The stars would have to align “pretty spectacularly” for Yates to win the mayoral election, he said.
But still, he’s running to win. Yates cares more about his ideas — like putting solar panels on the top of Charlotte bus stops to generate extra electricity — seeing the light of day than holding elected office, he said.
It’s an attitude most non-Democratic candidates are forced to hold in Charlotte, where registered Republicans make up less than a quarter of voters, while Democrats and unaffiliated voters each make up about 40% of the electorate.
It’s hard to change the status quo when nobody is paying attention, though, and many Charlotteans are opting out, King said. If you asked them who their councilperson was, they wouldn’t have a clue.
“This is what keeps people in power, that really shouldn’t be in power anymore,” King said. “People have checked out on municipal elections.”
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Charlotte primary elections could have high impact in NC appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This content presents a detailed overview of the local political landscape in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a focus on Democratic candidates, city governance issues, and community concerns such as affordable housing, transit, and public safety. It highlights controversies and criticisms primarily directed at incumbents and the existing establishment, reflecting a reform-oriented perspective often associated with center-left viewpoints. The inclusion of perspectives both supportive and critical of local Democratic leaders, as well as acknowledgment of Republican candidates, suggests a balanced, albeit slightly left-leaning, approach typical of local civic journalism aimed at informing voters about progressive policy debates and calls for change.
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