Supporters of publicly financed elections are using revelations from the State Board of Elections hearings into former Gov. Mike Easley to push their cause.

In publicly financed elections, taxpayer dollars provide candidates with money for advertising and campaigning. To qualify, candidates must demonstrate they have a minimum base of support and must agree to spending limits and restrictions on fundraising.

Municipal elections in Chapel Hill, appellate judge races and some Council of State races use the system. 

That's exactly the type of election the state needs in the wake of revelations that Easley's gubernatorial campaign planned to funnel money through the N.C. Democratic Party to circumvent the state's campaign finance limits, said Chase Foster, director of N.C. Voters for Clean Elections.

"More and more, North Carolina leaders see Voter-Owned Elections as the obvious answer to the rising cost of elections,” Foster said in a news release.

Foster released a scorecard tracking votes on publicly financed elections bills. Foster said the scorecard shows that lawmakers are increasingly supportive of the election changes.

A bill that would create a pilot program for more publicly financed municipal elections cleared the House this year. The Senate approved a bill that would expand the program to more Council of State races.

Opponents to such elections say taxpayers would be forced to fund political speech, and that political contributions would instead be given to special interest groups to spend.

Candidates critical of a Wake County school diversity policy swept three school board seats in Tuesday's elections and a fourth, crucial seat appears headed to a runoff.

The school board races are nonpartisan, although the Wake County Republican Party endorsed the three candidates who won in those races.

Veteran Democratic consultant Gary Pearce wonders if the strong showing of the "bad guys" is a sign of things to come in next year's Congressional and state legislative election. He said Monday on his Talking About Politics blog that in 1993 Republican Tom Fetzer won the Raleigh mayoral race, the vanguard of what became a big Republican rout.

In 1993, like this year, Democrats had just won the presidential election. They were still celebrating, and they were complacent.

Just like this year, Republicans were angry and motivated. Fetzer (with Carter’s help) found a perfect issue in the downtown civic center. Fetzer ran a modern TV campaign while Democrats ran the familiar old handshake campaign.

It was a sign of worse to come in 1994. And tomorrow may be the canary in the coal mine for 2010.

Gov. Beverly Perdue signed another seven bills Friday, including four that make changes to the state's election process or administration.

HB 1111: Clarifies when a candidate becomes covered by the state's campaign finance laws and places some limitations on the types of donations a candidate can receive for a legal expense fund. So that probably won't be relevant to anyone in state government any time soon.

HB 908: Allows teenagers to register to vote early. Their voter registration becomes active automatically when they turn 18.

HB 907: Tweaks the law regarding publicly funded campaigns. The law limits emergency money that is meant to help a candidate respond to another campaign in that emergency money won't be paid in response to a campaign ad that mentions all candidates. That change would have prevented a case where the state had to provide judicial candidates money when they were both mentioned favorably in a Democratic mailer.

SB 253: Makes it easier for military personnel to vote absentee.

The numbers continue to look bad for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr.

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, surveyed 749 North Carolina voters from Aug. 4-10, and found that only 38 percent approve of the job he is doing, while 32 percent disapprove. The rest, 30 percent, were not sure.

PPP notes that former Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole's favorability rating in August 2007 were 48 percent. She was defeated the following year by Democrat Kay Hagan.

But PPP also notes that Burr continues to match up well against possible Democratic opponents next year. The survey found that Burr leads Secretary of State Elaine Marshall by 12 points, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham of Lexington by 15 points, Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis by 16 points and Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy by 16 points.

The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

Roy Cooper will intervene in a Supreme Court case.

The attorney general told a sympathetic crowd of civil rights and social justice advocates Wednesday that he will ask the justices to preserve a section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that requires the federal government approve state election law changes.

A municipal utility in Texas is fighting the provision. But Cooper said that federal oversight helps ensure racial bias does not taint elections.

"This is important to make sure that we make the electoral process fair," Cooper said in an interview. "We've entered into the lawsuit because it's a matter of critical importance."

Attorneys general in New York, California, Mississippi, Arizona and Louisiana have joined Cooper's friend-of-the-court brief. 

The personal appearance to announce a court filing is unusual. Cooper is considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2010. (N&O)

Cities who want public financing of election campaigns would have to pay for it, under a bill moving through the House.

The bill would allow cities and towns to create public finance programs in which qualified candidates would use taxpayer money to run for office. The programs would be similar to those used in judicial and council of state elections. It is up to the city or town's elected leaders to decide whether to set up a program.

The State Board of Elections would monitor and administer the elections and the number of municipalities participating would be limited by the funds the board has to administer the elections.

The idea behind public financing is to make running for municipal office easier, proponents say.

"It is in essence about good government," said Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill.

Rep. Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, said he opposes the bill because it would force taxpayers to pick up the tab for political advertising that could be false, offensive or even racist.

"This is a solution in search of a problem," Stam said.

Dallas Woodhouse, state director of Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian group, said that the bill won't take the money out of campaigns. It will steer it to groups such as his, which will still be involved in elections.

Russ Stephenson, a Raleigh City Councilman said he had to raise $60,000 to win his at-large council seat. He said he would like to have the option for publicly financed elections. Running for council, a part-time job that pays $11,000, has become more difficult.

"It is increasingly a high-stakes endeavor, a high-cost endeavor," he said.

Rep. Rick Glazier thinks school board candidates should pay a little more.

The Fayetteville Democrat filed a bill this week that would raise the filing fee for school board candidates from $5 to $100.

He said that would bring it in line with other local offices, which can be as high as $250, and reduce the number of candidates who never campaign.

"What we see in my county is that people will be mad at a teacher or a superintendent one day and they'll decide to file, but they never really campaign because they've calmed down," he said.

He said that a higher filing fee would push candidates to be "vested" in their campaign.

Glazier also argued that a longer list of candidates increases the cost of holding an election. 

It's official: The November election is over.

The State Board of Elections signed off Tuesday on the results, approving the numbers in a canvass that brought no objections.

Elections director Gary Bartlett said that the board usually hears up to 10 election concerns, but there were no protests and the only pending issue had already been investigated.

"Zero issues — it doesn't get any better than that," he said.

He attributed the quiet to luck and training. Two candidates for school board in Nash County were inadvertently left off the ballot, but they had no opposition.

Two potential trouble spots turned out to be non-issues: The high volume of voters and the tricky "straight-ticket" ballot.

Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina said he'd like to expand early voting, which was a success. (AP)

North Carolina received a B-minus on campaign finance disclosure.

In a regular report card by the Campaign Disclosure Project, the state Board of Elections received higher marks on campaign finance laws and accessibility of its Web site. Last year, the state received a C-plus, and in 2003 it received a D-plus.

The state was graded well for requiring detailed information about contributors of more than $50, including occupation and employer data, as well as vendors used by candidates.

However, it received lower marks for its electronic filing program, which is required of statewide candidates who raise $5,000 or more but not legislative candidates.

A redesign of the Board of Elections Web site was praised.

"The site offers a fair amount of contextual information, such as detailed candidate lists and a thorough campaign finance manual explaining the state’s disclosure requirements and contribution limits," the group wrote.

North Carolina was ranked 23 of U.S. states. 

Election Day could be a nightmare, with voters facing three-hour waits at the polls unless election officials hire more staff and expand early voting sites, says Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

A predicted record turnout will jam polls, and officials should take steps to avoid a crush in November, says Bob Hall, executive director of the group. During the May primary, 2.1 million voters cast ballots — double the previous record for a North Carolina primary.

The fall election season is complicated by a competitive presidential race, the wild card of same-day registration and voting and high interest among young and African-American voters.

In the 2004 election, 3.5 million North Carolinians cast votes but the total this fall could jump by as many as 1 million. A Democracy North Carolina analysis of newly registered voters showed that Democrats added eight times as many voters as Republicans so far this year. One-third of new voters are black, two out of five live in the state's most populous counties and 10,000 identify themselves as Hispanic.

The recently approved state budget included $2 million to help counties open more early voting sites. "Officials need to use all the resources available to hire more staff so poll workers get relief during the week, as well as open more sites so voters have relief from the stress of Election Day lines," Hall said in a news release.