IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

Transcription

1 Case 1:13-cv TDS-JEP Document Filed 05/19/14 Page 1 of 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA NORTH CAROLINA STATE CONFERENCE OF THE NAACP, EMMANUEL BAPTIST CHURCH, NEW OXLEY HILL BAPTIST CHURCH, BETHEL A. BAPTIST CHURCH, COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CLINTON TABERNACLE AME ZION CHURCH, BARBEE S CHAPEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, INC., ROSANELL EATON, ARMENTA EATON, CAROLYN COLEMAN, BAHEEYAH MADANY, JOCELYN FERGUSON- KELLY, FAITH JACKSON, MARY PERRY, and MARIA TERESA UNGER PALMER Plaintiffs, v. PATRICK LLOYD MCCRORY, in his official capacity as the Governor of North Carolina, KIM WESTBROOK STRACH, in her official capacity as Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, JOSHUA B. HOWARD, in his official capacity as Chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, RHONDA K. AMOROSO, in her official capacity as Secretary of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, JOSHUA D. MALCOLM, in his official capacity as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, PAUL J. FOLEY, in his official capacity as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Elections and MAJA KRICKER, in her official capacity as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Defendants. DECLARATION OF JACQUELINE TAYLOR Case No.: 1:13-CV JA0413

2 Case 1:13-cv TDS-JEP Document Filed 05/19/14 Page 2 of 7 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF NORTH CAROLINA, A. PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE, UNIFOUR ONESTOP COLLABORATIVE, COMMON CAUSE NORTH CAROLINA, GOLDIE WELLS, KAY BRANDON, OCTAVIA RAINEY, SARA STOHLER, and HUGH STOHLER, Plaintiffs, v. THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, JOSHUA B. HOWARD in his official capacity as a member of the State Board of Elections, RHONDA K. AMOROSO in her official capacity as a member of the State Board of Elections, JOSHUA D. MALCOLM in his official capacity as a member of the State Board of Elections, PAUL J. FOLEY in his official capacity as a member of the State Board of Elections, MAJA KRICKER in her official capacity as a member of the State Board of Elections, and PATRICK LLOYD MCCRORY, in his official capacity as the Governor of North Carolina, Defendants. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiffs, v. THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA; THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS; and KIM W. STRACH, in her official capacity as Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Defendants. Case No.: 1:13-CV-660 Case No.: 1:13-CV JA0414

3 Case 1:13-cv TDS-JEP Document Filed 05/19/14 Page 3 of 7 Declaration of Jacqueline Taylor I. Jacqueline Taylor, hereby declare as follows: 1. I am a U.S. citizen, a resident of Halifax County, and a registered voter. 2. I was the Director of the Halifax County Board of Elections ("CBOE" from March 2000 to June Based on my experience as Director of the Halifax CBOE, I have concluded that House Bill 589 ("H.B. 589" will have a devastating impact on voter participation in North Carolina, especially in the African-American population. Background 4. After graduating from North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C. with a degree in history, I relocated to the Washington D.C./Northern Virginia area to work as an accountant for several years. I returned to Halifax County in the late 1970s and began working for the Department of Social Services in the early 1980s. In March 2000, I became the Director of the Halifax CBOE. 5. As Director, I was heavily involved in the election process in Halifax County. My duties and responsibilities were delegated to me by the members of the Halifax CBOE. I was the administrator of the entire election process. I was responsible for informing the board members of the CBOE about changes in election laws in North Carolina and implementing those changes. I was also responsible for establishing training programs for the precinct workers and finding precinct locations suitable for all voters. In addition to my main responsibilities, listed above, I also assisted in conducting voter registration drives, processing voter registration applications, reviewing candidacy filings, list maintenance and programming voting machines. JA0415

4 Case 1:13-cv TDS-JEP Document Filed 05/19/14 Page 4 of 7 6, During my tenure, the North Carolina General Assembly implemented a number of changes to election laws that impacted the Halifax CBOE, including extending early voting to three weeks, implementing out-of-precinct provisional voting, creating same-day registration, and allowing for straight-ticket voting. All of these election law changes made it easier for voters to participate in elections. 7. The election law changes implemented by the General Assembly during my tenure had a disproportionate impact on the participation of African-American voters. In Halifax County, participation among African-Americans eligible to vote increased 23.4% from Administration & Cost of Elections in Halifax County 8. As noted above, I served as Director of the Halifax CBOE from 2000 through In Halifax County, the funding of elections starts with the County Commissioner, who sets the overall budget for an election. The Director then allocates those funds among various election expenses and sends an itemized budget demonstrating those allocations to the CBOE board members for approval. Salary expenses were generally the most costly aspect of running elections. 9. H.B. 589 will increase the amount of money that the Halifax CBOE needs to budget for salary expenses. In the past, Halifax County hired approximately 16 poll workers to staff early voting sites. Reducing the number of days available for early voting while maintaining the same number of hours, as HB 589 requires, will require the county to open more early voting locations. This will force the CBOE to hire, train and pay additional workers to staff these locations. Furthermore, adding locations could potentially add additional fees to secure space and equipment. Although counties are permitted to apply for waivers from the SBOE JA0416

5 Case 1:13-cv TDS-JEP Document Filed 05/19/14 Page 5 of 7 allowing them to reduce the total number of early voting hours offered, I do not believe that the Halifax CBOE would be able to meet the demand for early voting in the newly shortened early voting period without establishing additional locations. In fact, the recent reduction to the early voting period in Halifax County forced the CBOE to open up an additional site to meet the demand for early voting. This has resulted in an increase in costs to hire, train and pay the salaries of additional workers to staff this second site. 10. In 2012, the North Carolina General Assembly refused to accept Help America Vote Act of 2002 ("HAVA" funds, which could have been used to defray the salary expenses of early voting in_halifax_caunty Thisiorced the Ilalifax CROF to_request_more money_from the Halifax County Commissioner. The County Commissioner approved the additional funds requested so that the CBOE could hold a statutorily compliant election in I understand that the General Assembly has again refused to accept HAVA funds to help support the cost of early voting. If that is the case, the Halifax CBOE will have to again request additional funds from the County Commissioner to fund early voting in An additional cost to administering elections in Halifax County is training. In the average election year, Halifax CBOE trains between 100 to 150 poll workers, the majority of whom work on Election Day. Each worker is paid hourly for the training. With the number of changes implemented by H.B. 589, training sessions will have to be two to three times longer and will likely cost the CBOE two to three times more. Additionally, the Halifax CBOE (and every other CBOE will have to develop, print, and distribute a new training manual for poll workers. All of these costs add up. To my knowledge, however, the state has not authorized any additional funding for the counties to implement these changes. JA0417

6 Case 1:13-cv TDS-JEP Document Filed 05/19/14 Page 6 of 7 Voter Fraud in Halifax County 11. I do not believe that photo identification is necessary to preserve the "integrity" of elections in North Carolina. To my knowledge, Halifax County has never encountered any instance of voter impersonation where a person voted or attempted to vote using another person's name or identification. 12. The only instance of voter fraud that I can recall involved the chairman of the Republican Party in Halifax County attempting to vote twice, once during the early voting period and once on Election Day, in order to test the system. The system worked. The double-vote was detected, and thus not counted, by the Halifax CBOE d the individual was referred to the SBOE for prosecution, although no charges were ultimately brought. Furthermore, a photo identification requirement would not have assisted us in preventing the incident because he was not impersonating himself, but instead attempting to vote twice as himself. Same-Day Registration in Halifax County 13. During my tenure as Director of the Halifax CBOE, the voter registration rate increased substantially in Halifax County. This was due in large part to same-day registration, which was particularly widely utilized by African-American voters. The elimination of sameday registration will have a devastating impact on Halifax County, especially its substantial African-American population. 14. I never experienced a problem verifying a voter's identity during the same-day registration process. There were never any unique problems associated with verifying voters who used same-day registration. If anything, I had fewer problems verifying same-day registrants than I did with verifying voters who registered through the normal registration JA0418

7 Case 1:13-cv TDS-JEP Document Filed 05/19/14 Page 7 of 7 process. This is largely because a poll worker would be there in-person to verify the identity and address of the voter. Out of Precinct Voting in Halifax County 15. A significant number of out-of-precinct provisional ballots are cast in Halifax County, predominantly by African-Americans. African-Americans in Halifax County tend to move frequently, and many voters like to continue to vote at the same location despite moving. The elimination of out-of-precinct voting will disproportionately impact transient communities that are well represented in Halifax County. 16. _I never experienced any administrative problems with out-of-precinct provisional ballots. Finding a registered voter's correct precinct is a straightforward process after all ballots are returned to the CBOE, staff members can simply look the voter up by name to identify his/her correct precinct. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on, ave, } JA0419