Republican power grab continues

Under N.C. law, the election boards in each of our 100 counties consist of three members, with two of these positions being reserved for the sitting governor’s party. Democrats lost the governorship in 2012 to Pat McCrory, and thereby the Republicans gained a 2-to-1 majority on all local election boards.

Now that Roy Cooper’s victory has returned the governorship to the Democrats, one would assume that county election boards would reflect the same political change. However, several Republican legislators from our area are apparently determined to undermine the law as it now stands.

In North Carolina, legislators can ask the General Assembly to consider local legislation that applies only to the district represented by the requesting legislator. This privilege is used only rarely and one would hope with the intent to improve the lives of all constituents in a particular district.

Legislation (HB508) is now scheduled for a committee hearing in Raleigh. Instead of allowing the political party of the governor to recommend two members to a local election board, this power of appointment would be transferred to the party of the majority of sitting county commissioners. This bill, introduced by Reps. Carl Ford, Justin Burr and Julia Howard, would apply only to Rowan, Stanly and Davie counties. It is certainly not a coincidence that, in each of these counties, the Republicans hold a majority on the county commission.

This proposal is an outrageous power grab that makes a mockery of the concept of fair play and can only serve to damage the democratic process.

— Keith Townsend

Mount Ulla

How could he?

The writer is responding to a news story about a man in Fayetteville killing his 2-year-old and infant children.

I would like to know how anybody could kill two sweet little children, even if they weren’t his children. They need to do a DNA test to see if they were his children, but that doesn’t matter. Even if they weren’t his children, he didn’t need to kill them.

I am not here to judge, but they need to make him suffer bad for what he did. He doesn’t need to get life behind bars or just get the death penalty, because that will take forever. He could sit in jail and have it made.

It breaks my heart so bad. Every time I think about it, I cry. At least they are in God’s arms. Now they are his little angels.

People, please pray that this man will get what he needs here on earth, because you don’t just kill babies and think that he is going to be forgiven. I am not judging, but we all know what he did. Amen.

— Cathy Tucker

China Grove