Clinton
|
Trump
||
General
Election
Visits
North
Carolina was a battleground state and saw intense activity by
the
Democratic and Republican campaigns.
Setting
the stage for the general election campaign here, on July 29,
2016 a
federal
appeals courty struck down major provisions of North
Carolina's
sweeping voter ID law. The controversial measure, passed
on a
party line vote by the Republican legislature and signed into
law by
Gov. Pat McCrory (R) three years earlier on Aug. 12, 2013,
included not
only a voter ID
requirement but other restrictions including a reduced early
voting
period and elimination of same day registration [
PDF]." The
ruling of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals minced no words,
stating
that "the General
Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting
and registration in five different ways, all of which
disproportionately affected African Americans." Further,
the
ruling stated that "because of race, the
legislature enacted one of the largest restrictions of the
franchise in modern North Carolina history." The court
blocked
implementation of all five provisions [
PDF].
A
month
later,
the
U.S.
Supreme
Court
declined
to intervene.
Concerns about voter suppression did not disappear. On
Oct. 31
the NC NAACP filed a lawsuit charging that election boards in
Beaufort,
Moore and Cumberland counties had cancelled registrations of
thousands
of voters on dubious grounds (
+).
A
Nov.
7
article in
Mother Jones
described
North Carolina as "the epicenter of voter suppression efforts
during
the 2016 campaign." The magazine and many other news
outlets
reported
on a Nov. 7 press release from the state Republican party
"bragging"
about increased white turnout and lower black turnout (
+).
Information from the State Board of Elections presented a
different
picture, pointing to increases in early voting sites and
hours
and
"the highest early voting turnout in the state’s
history” (
+).
North Carolina also gained noteriety for HB2, the Public
Facilities
Privacy and Security Act ("the bathroom bill") passed by the
General
Assembly and signed into law by Gov. McCrory on March
23. Another
event that filled the news was the fatal shooting of Keith
Lamont Scott
by a police officer in Charlotte on Sept. 20; this caused
several days
of unrest and protests, prompting Gov. McGrory to declare a
state of
emergency in the city.
A dark moment in the campaign occurred on the night of Oct. 15
when a
Republican Party office in the town of Hillsborough (Durham
area) was
firebombed (
+).
The tight race for governor and tighter than expected contest
for U.S. Senate also added interest.
Among the noteworthy visits to the state, Hillary Clinton
wrapped up
her campaigning with a final midnight "Get Out the Vote" rally
with
Bill and Chelsea,
Lady Gaga and Jon Bon Jovi in Reynolds Coliseum at NC State
University in Raleigh. President Obama made three trips
to the
state to stump for Clinton, including two in the final
week. A
Winston-Salem rally on Oct. 27 was the scene of Hillary
Clinton's only
joint appearance with First Lady Michelle Obama.
Vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine chose Raleigh for his
debate
prep, although little news came out of that. On the
Republican
side, Donald Trump chose McGlohon Theatre in
Charlotte for an Oct. 26 speech
on urban renewal and America's inner cities. Gov. Mike
Pence made
a
dozen trips to the state, more than any state but Ohio.
Trump carried 76 counties to 24 for Clinton, garnering a
plurality of 164,315 votes (3.66 percentage points); he fell
just below
50-percent of the vote, tallying 49.83% of total votes
.
Voter Registration for the Nov. 2016 General Election:
6,914,248:
Dem. 2,733,188 (39.51%) Rep. 2,086,942
(30.17%) Lib. 32,333 (0.47%) Unaffil.
2,065,687 (29.86%)
White 4,799,695 Black 1,536,117 Am.
Indian 56,634 Hispanic 166,964 Other
525,704
For a good overview of the campaign in North Carolina see:
Sean Sullivan. "Nervous GOP pours money, personnel into
N.C." The Washington Post,
Sept. 13,
2016.
Nia-Malika Henderson. "Clinton eyes NC as a firewall
in
tightening race." CNN,
Sept.
19,
2016.