October 16, 2025 • 35 mins
The North Carolina State Health Plan has issued a response following a recent court ruling in the transgender care case, outlining next steps as legal challenges continue. In-person early voting for municipal elections begins Thursday across the state, with several key local races drawing attention. A new state program has eliminated $6.5 billion in medical debt for roughly 2.5 million North Carolinians, providing major financial relief for residents. Meanwhile, the NC Appeals Court issued a mixed ruling in the ongoing appointments dispute involving Governor Stein and legislative leaders.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Hour News TAC eleven, ten
ninety nine three WBT.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm Nicked Craig. A good morning to you.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
In some statewide news this morning, the North Carolina State
Health Plan announced on Wednesday the reinstatement of its long
standing exclusion of transition related treatments typically sought by transgender patients.
This announcement from the state Health Plan arrived on the
same day a court case challenging the exclusion officially returned
(00:41):
to a federal trial court from the Fourth US Circuit
Court of Appeals. The Fourth Circuit issued a September the
twenty third order in the case known as Cadell versus Fallwell,
That is, the that is referring to previous State Treasurer
Dale Fallwell, vacating a trial judge's twenty twenty two decision
to block that exclusion. The trial judge had requested that
(01:04):
the state health plan provide coverage for the disputed treatments,
the mandate from the appeals court. However, the order's order
rather reached the trial court on Wednesday. The decision reinstates
the State health Plan's exclusion of transition related treatments, according
to a news release from State Treasurer Brad Briner's office.
(01:26):
Briner oversees the State Health Plan as his predecessor in
Dale Folwell did, hence why his name was on the
court case. According to the news release, it reads, in part,
the exclusion dates back to the nineteen nineties and while
litigation has been ongoing and has continued to appear in
the annual list of exclusions for Planned members even though
(01:47):
it was inactive. The release also goes on to say
the court's decision to vacate the District Court's earlier ruling
means that the exclusion becomes active once again. The Plan
communicated this anticipated action to its patients or to its
members rather in the month of June. The news release
(02:07):
explained generally, the exclusion does not prevent the treatment of
any infection, injury, disease, disorder, or complication that has been
caused by, or exacerbated by the performance of gender medical, transition,
medical or pharmaceutical procedures. Additionally, in twenty twenty one, the
Plan's Board of trust these affirmed continued coverage for psychological
(02:31):
assessments and psychotherapy treatments in conjunction with a diagnosis or
connected to gender dysphoria, the reimplementation benefit exclusion does not
exclude some of those psychological assessments or treatments in these cases.
The release from again the State Treasurer's Office wrapped up
(02:51):
by saying plan staff is now working with our third
party administrator and healthcare providers to make sure this decision
is fully communicated to all members affected by its reinstatement. So,
as we've been covering, and there's been a little bit
on this story over the last year or so, US
District Judge Loretta Biggs issued a twenty twenty injunction which
(03:14):
forced the State Health Plan to provide some of that
disputed coverage, which, as we learn from the Treasurer's Office,
has been on the exclusion list going back to the
nineteen nineties. However, a split Fourth US Circuit Court of
Appeals voted eight to six to affirm Biggs's decision in
twenty twenty four. However, the United States Supreme Court issued
(03:36):
an order in June vacating the Fourth Circuit's ruling. The
High Court called on the Fourth Circuit to revisit this case,
Kadal versus Fallwell in light of the Supreme Court ruling
in another case that coming out of the state of
Tennessee called United States Versus Scurmeti. In that case, justices
upheld a Tennessee law banning things like puberty blockers and
(03:59):
hormone therapy for transgender teams. So, due to the case
in Tennessee and its close proximity to what has been
ongoing here in North Carolina, it has reopened the door
for the state Health plan to add back some of
those long standing exclusions. You can read some additional details
on this story this morning by visiting our website, Carolina
(04:21):
Journal dot com that headline story, state health plan responds
to recent rulings in transgender care case. Again those details
over at Carolina Journal dot com, where it's now five
oh nine News Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT.
Early voting in over three hundred municipalities across the state
of North Carolina kicks off on this Thursday morning to
(04:43):
walk us through what some of those details look like.
Teresa Opeka, Carolina Journal dot Com joins us on the
news hour Teresa. Municipal elections they roll around every two
or four years here in North Carolina. What is the
latest that you're tracking as it relates to early voting.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
To or Good morning, Nick, thanks as always for having me.
So yeah, So that begins today for voters in three
hundred and eighty North Carolina municipalities ahead of the November
municipal elections. So to break it down, there's four hundred
and forty seven cities, towns, and villages in eighty eight
counties that are conducting elections. And of these, sixty seven
(05:20):
municipalities have chosen not to use early and absentee voting.
They're only going to be allowed to vote on election day,
which is Tuesday, November fourth, to just want to make
the listeners aware of that as well, and you know
the early voting sites and schedules, they're available at the
State Board of Elections Early Voting site search on their
(05:41):
website and also at early Voting Sites for the November fourth,
twenty twenty five municipal elections page that they have. So statewide,
there's about one hundred and forty four early voting sites
that will be open for the November elections.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Theresa, before get into with some of these other early
voting locations and some of those details, those sixty seven
municipalities that are not using early voting. In my research
of that, these seem to be very small communities, just
a couple one hundred people registered in some small towns
and villages across the state. So safe to say it's
probably just a logistical situation when you've only got maybe
(06:20):
a couple of hundred voters that are even eligible to vote, I.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Would think so. And you know, like you say, there
are such small communities, they probably maybe don't have enough
people to come out and maybe be there of the
times that are needed as well. So yeah, it's not
a significant portion of those areas that have that.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
As we look at what we are going to see
unfolding over the next couple of weeks, there are some
major races that are of course being watched the city
of Charlotte, the municipal elections there. Teres are probably going
to be ones that are being watched not only across
the state but the nation. As Charlotte has gotten so
much negative attention over the last couple of months. A
couple of murders just in the last few days, the
(07:00):
horrific murder of Arenas Ruska on the Charlotte light rail.
Three of these elections are really important, and unfortunately, voter
turnout seems to be always so incredibly low when you
don't have a big ticket name or a big ticket
race like a senator, a governor, or a president on
the ballot, right right.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, it's not a presidential year like last year. And
you know you said, we don't have the US Senate
race that's coming up next year, so this is kind
of an in between year where you don't see a
lot of activity at the polls. It will be interesting
to see how voters and Charlotte turnout, especially with everything
you just mentioned, you know, and ongoing crimes you murders
(07:41):
going up and things of that nature. Other areas that
have races too. We've got Durham and the Triangle, Fayetteville
and the sand Hills, and believe also what in Wilmington
out in the eastern part of the state. All different
areas have elections going on, But in particular it will
be interesting to follows Charlotte and see of voters will
(08:02):
be motivated to go out to the polls now more
than ever, since there's so much going on and right
now it's just not a good direction that things are
going in and.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Of course, we'll keep a running tab on some of
these early voting totals. We won't have the results, but
we will have a pretty good idea of the actual
number of individuals that have gone out and voted. We'll
keep you up to date with those details right here
on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Something that I do
want to mention, Teresaan We've talked about it in the past,
is due to some ongoing lawsuits with the Department of
(08:33):
Justice about a decade or so, if not more, of
questions over voter registration practices in North Carolina, Individuals who
do not have the required have a Federal information on
file in North Carolina, there will be a different process
for them as well.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Right if you don't have that information, you can vote provisionally.
They do give you a provisional ballot to fill out
and fill out a form with North Carolina Driver's license
or DMVD number or the last four digits of their
Social Security number. And then after the election day of
(09:11):
the county boards of Elections will need to determine whether
that voter provided the required identification for their ballot to
be counted. And also, of course I want to mention
the registration repair project. That was an initiative launched by
the Board of Elections earlier this year that's aiming to
alleviate some of these issues by collecting driver's license numbers
(09:33):
or the last four of their socials from registered voters
who do not have one of these numbers in the
voter registration database. They can also check that out on
their website as well. But yeah, they can vote provisionally
in case they don't have that information.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, and of course helpful that this is happening during
a municipal election where yes, there is a shorter and
smaller turnout in some cases, a shorter early voting window
of the big midterm elections that will be heading to
North Carolina early next year with the primary and then
of course wrapping up with a general or a full
on general election in November of next year. Now the
(10:12):
early voting three So there's been some discussion in years
past about the length of early voting. As we talk
about what's going on here this morning, October the sixteenth,
early voting does begin in many areas and it goes
on for a significant period of time all the way
till the first of November. There's a really no excuse
for folks not to get out and vote if they're eligible,
that's right.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
They've got plenty of time. And of course too, you
can mentioned absentee voting that's also begun in the participating municipalities,
and that just excuse me. Eligible registered voters, they can
request a ballot online. Again, we have got all the
details in the article on Carolina Journal dot com, but
they have to do that until I believe it's five
(10:54):
pm on Tuesday, October twenty first, that's a little bit
shorter to request a now absentee ballot. Yeah, but there's
definitely no excuse. You got plenty of time to get
out and vote, either on election day or early voting,
which starts today.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
We will keep an eye and keep a track on
some of these numbers and details as this early voting
period takes place across the state. We appreciate the details
this morning, and as Teresa noted, you can get some
more information by visiting our website this morning, Carolina Journal
dot com. Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal
News Hour. It's twenty two minutes past the hour. Welcome
(11:32):
back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk eleven
ten ninety nine three WBT and some other statewide news
that we are tracking this morning. More than six point
five billion dollars in medical debt has been eliminated for
more than two and a half million North Carolinians in
the past year, according to a recent announcement from Governor
Josh Stein, who announced that on Monday alongside the North
(11:56):
Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in the Secretary
there the state's medical debt relief program, which is being
facilitated by undue medical debt, was started in July of
twenty twenty four by then former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper
and the former Secretary of NCDHHS. As medical debt does
(12:17):
remain a big issue for many American families, a west
Health Gallop Health survey revealed that up to twelve percent,
or approximately thirty one million Americans reported borrowing an estimated
total seventy four billion dollars in the past twelve months
to cover health care costs for themselves or a household
(12:38):
family member. A majority of Americans, some fifty eight percent,
shared concerns that they would experience medical debt if they
faced a major health event. However, Joseph Harris, a fiscal
policy analyst for the John Locke Foundation, says the issue
is not quite as simple as debt forgiveness. He told
The Carolina Journal quote the medical debt forgiveness may appear compassionate,
(13:02):
but it's built on the same unstable, taxpayer provided shell
game that the federal government is now trying to fix
in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Under the debt Forgiveness plan,
hospitals erase patient debt in exchange for higher Medicaid payments
from the state. Those higher payments trigger greater federal matching funds,
(13:23):
which the state then uses to cover the extra reimbursement.
The state itself also collects a provider tax from these
hospitals to offset some of the share.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Of those payments.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Harris concluded by saying, in effect, unpaid medical bills are
being shifted from patients to federal taxpayers through a circular
funding scheme. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services asked the United States Center for Medicare and Medicaid,
which has the acronymic CMS no relation to Charlotte, to
approve a set of conditional hospitals that they must meet
(13:59):
in order to be eligible to receive an enhanced amount
of Medicaid funds, and under the new agreement, hospitals are
required or will be required. I should say to implement
the following policies, including relieving all medical debt deemed uncollectible
dating back to January first, twenty fourteen. For any individuals
(14:19):
not enrolled in Medicaid with an income that is at
least or below three hundred and fifty percent of the
federal poverty level, or whom is a total debt exceeds
five percent of annual income. They must also relieve all
unpaid medical debt dating back to January first, twenty fourteen.
For individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid not on any
(14:40):
sort of private insurance, provide discounts on medical bills of
between a fifty and one hundred percent. Four parties with
incomes at or below three hundred percent the federal poverty level,
with the amount of the discount varying based on the
patient's income, automatically enrolling people in financial assistance known as
charity care by implementing a policy for presumptive determination eligibility
(15:04):
for financial assistance through a streamline screening approach process. And
then two final things that these hospitals must follow not
selling any medical debt for a customers with incomes at
a blow that three hundred percent federal poverty level to
a debt collector, and not reporting a patient's debt covered
by these policies to any credit reporting agencies. Hospitals that
(15:28):
agreed to the requirements would be eligible for enhanced payments
under the Health Access and Stabilization Program known as HASP.
The conditions include relieving some four billion dollars, which was
exceeded by two and a half billion dollars in existing
medical debt for two million low and middle class income
(15:48):
North Carolinians, and establishing some of those policies to prevent further.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Accumulation of medical debt. The governor said in an announcement
earlier this.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Week, quote medical debt is a tremendous weight, keeping so
many families from financial security, and unlike most other forms
of debt, it's not a choice. Today's announcement will free
people from the financial stress so that they can focus
on getting healthy. I thank Governor Roy Cooper, DHS Secretary
Cody Kinsley, and the hospitals that partnered with the State
(16:22):
of North Carolina to make these life changing change this
life changing news possible. I urge the General Assembly to
keep this momentum going by coming back to the table
and fully funding Medicaid. The program does not utilize state funds.
It is important to note in eligible individuals do not
need to take any other additional action. That debt will
(16:45):
just be admonished by the hospital and you'll likely receive
some sort of communication from the hospital that that debt
has been has been washed away. People across the state
have begun receiving letters from hospitals letting them know that
their debt has in fact been forgiven. Additionally, Undue Medical
Debt is sending letters to thousands of North Carolinians letting
(17:07):
them know that they had some or all of their
debt relieved. At least two hundred and fifty five thousand
letters are being sent this same week as that announcement
was being made, with additional letters to follow in the
coming months and years. It's definitely a very interesting story
from the governor announcement a big announcement. Six point five
(17:27):
billion dollars in medical debt, no small sum of money,
and this will affect more than two and a half
million North Carolinians. However, as Joseph Harris from the John
Locke Foundation notes it's kind of a circular funding model
where now federal taxpayers are picking up some of those
medical tabs here in the state of North Carolina. We've
got some additional coverage this morning on our website, Carolina
(17:48):
Journal dot com. You can read that story and check
out a full press conference from the governor. The headline there,
NC program wipes out six point five billion dollars in
medical debt for two point five million residents. Again those
details at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
It's five thirty six.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal news Our news Stock
eleven ten ninety nine three WBT. If you miss any
portion of our show weekday mornings here live on WBT,
you can check out the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast.
It's available in Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you
get your shows. Search for the Carolina Journal News Hour,
tap the subscribe or follow button, and you'll take a
(18:31):
new program with you each and every weekday morning. It's
the Carolina Journal News Hour Podcast. Download and subscribe. Now,
we've been covering a couple of pretty big lawsuits that
pit the Republican led General Assembly against Democrat Governor Josh
Stein in one of those cases. A major update this
week to let us know about that case and its
future implications. It's my pleasure to welcome Mitch Koki from
(18:51):
the John Locke Foundation back to our airwaves this morning
on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, these lawsuits have
been going on now for quite some time. Pretty big break.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
In one of them. What's going on?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Some of these cases in fact pre date Governor Josh
Stein coming into office. They go back to the closing
days of Roy Cooper's tenure as governor. And that's what
happened in this case that we're talking about now, a
case that started out as Cooper v. Berger and by
the time it was decided, was actually called Stein vie Berger.
(19:23):
Pitts the governor against the Republican led General Assembly over
changes to appointments to seven different state boards and commissions. Now,
basically the gist of it is that the governor challenged
changes in state law to change the way that the
appointments were done to all seven state boards and commissions.
(19:45):
This case went before a three judge trial court panel,
and that court issued basically a split decision. The judges
were unanimous, but they split on what they decided. They
basically said that the General Assembly was within its rights
to make changes to five of the boards and commissions,
but overstepped and violated the separation of powers in changes
(20:09):
to two of the different commissions. So it was five
wins for the General Assembly, essentially two for the governor.
This case got to the State Court of Appeals and
it went before a three judge panel at the State
Court of Appeals, all Republicans, and basically that the upshot
is that the Court of Appeals ruled, instead of five
(20:29):
to two for three, that the General Assembly was within
its power to make four of the changes that were
made to boards and commissions, but got it wrong on
three of the boards. Now, basically the ones where the
governor wins are the Economic Investment Committee, which is a
(20:50):
group that decides on target at tax incentives, the State
Board of Transportation, which deals with transportation issues as you
might expect, and the one in which the governor gets
the win at the Court of Appeals where he lost
at the trial court level is the Commission for Public Health. Basically,
there are a lot of details here, but the appeals
(21:12):
court says the way the General Assembly went about making
the changes, overstepped its bounds and encroached on the Governor's authority. Now,
while the Governor gets wins on all three of those,
the General Assembly wins at the Appeals Court on the
Environmental Management Commission, the Coastal Resources Commission, the Wildlife for
Sources Commission, and also changes that move the Building Code
(21:36):
Council to this new Residency Code Council. So kind of
a split verdict on this. And this also has implications
for another ongoing fight that you and I have talked about,
because just after this ruling came out on Wednesday morning,
they panel overseeing another fight between Stein and legislative leaders
(21:57):
issued in order saying, hey, the of Appeals our court
just issued this ruling. We want you to tell us
how this case affects our case. And this is a
case that deals with an appointment to the State Utilities Commission.
It also deals with the Building co Council in another respect,
and it deals with judicial vacancies. This ruling won't really
(22:19):
have any impact on the Judicial vacancy's piece, but it
certainly could have an impact on the fight over the
Utilities Commission appointment and the Building Code Council, And basically
one of the main arguments that came out of this
that will essentially affect the Utilities commission appointment is that
the appeals court did not buy the governor's argument that
(22:43):
shifting an appointment from the governor to another elected member
of the Council of State was a violation of the
separation of powers. The court order was specific in saying
that the executive branch, whether it's the governor or in
this case, the Insurance Commissioner or the Agriculture Commissioner, and
(23:05):
in the case of the Utilities commissioned in the separate case,
it would be the State treasurer. If those bodies together
have the majority of appointments, that means the executive branch
has the majority of appointments. So that could really be
interesting moving forward if the General Assembly wants to do
this in other cases where they take an appointment that
(23:25):
is now in the hands of Josh Stein and hand
it off to another member of the Council of State.
At least in this case the Stein wie Berger ruling,
the Court of Appeal says that's okay, that's not a
violation of the separation of powers, and.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
It's kind of interesting that.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
You know, we talk a lot about and you'll hear
a lot about the executive branch and the first reaction
of courses in Washington, d c. Where you've got the
President of the United States who essentially dictates everything that
goes on out of the executive branch. Kind of unique
set up here in North Carolina. While the governor does
sit on the top, and he is of course the
individual who gets a lot of the mead attention, a lot
(24:01):
of the things flow to him, the legislation from the
General Assembly, there are these other Council of State members
who are not only influential in what they do, but
they also appeared on a statewide ballot and were potentially
elected by tens of millions of voters across North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
And that's one of the arguments Nick, that the General
Assembly has been making during the course of this is
that unlike Washington, which has a unitary executive, all of
the power eventually flows to the president. Of course, a
lot of executive offices and the president doesn't actually have
a hand in everything that the federal government does, but
the buck stops with him when it comes to executive
(24:40):
branch decisions. Whereas there is a plural executive and always
has been in North Carolina because of the North Carolina
founder's fear of having one all powerful person at the
head of the executive branch. And so you have not
only the governor, you have the nine other statewide execus
necative branch officials who are elected by voters, as you
(25:03):
pointed out, and they make up the Council of State.
And so shifting some power from the governor to another
member of the Council of State doesn't take the power
away from the executive branch. The governor, in his arguments
in this case and others that have involved transfers from
his office to another member of the Council of State,
(25:25):
has basically said, well, but the governor is really the power,
and the governor needs to be able to show that,
to be able to show that these laws are being
put into effect. And at least in this case, the
court is saying, well, but that's not exactly how it
works here in North Carolina. The General Assembly can shift
some of this power to other members of the Council
(25:48):
of State and still keep that power within the executive branch.
It's not taking the power for itself. As the legislative branch.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
So one of the interesting things that we've covered in
some of these previous cases is whether it's the State
Board of Elections or the Utilities Commission. Some of the
more high profile cases that we've discussed, Mitch, the power
of political structure of those boards have changed dramatically in
many cases, going from Democrat control most of the time
three to two democrats to republicans to now the other
way around, three republicans two democrats. Are we going to
(26:20):
see similar things based on this decision from the appeals court.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
It's entirely possible. I think. One of the things that
we've seen in recent years is that the General Assembly
has been testing out what will work and what will
pass muster with the courts. We saw several different ways
of going about it. With the case that that was
decided this week's toe by Berger, they took some appointments
(26:45):
from the governor, gave them to another member of the
Council of State. They expanded one board, allowed the governor
to continue to have a majority of appointments, but then
gave the General Assembly more appointments and set some changes
into the the quorum rules. They also set some different
rules about the governor would have more appointments than the
(27:08):
General Assembly, but then an outside group had some appointments.
All of those I think involved the General Assembly testing
what was not only something that they thought could fly
in terms of making the operations work for these various agencies,
but what would fly with the courts, and at least
with this decision in steinbe Berger, if it holds up,
(27:31):
if there's not no appeal to the Supreme Court. Of
the Supreme Court says something different that if this decision
stands or if it's affirmed by the state Supreme Court,
it means that shifting an appointment from the governor to
another member of the Council of State is something that's
going to stand up under the North Carolina Constitution. And
if that's true, we're likely to see more of it
(27:53):
if there are other opportunities to do that.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You kind of took the next question out of my mouth. Here.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
This is the North Carolina Court of Appeals that made
this decision. The higher you can go. The highest you
can go is the North Carolina Supreme Court. Mintioning your
experience following these cases, maybe ask you to read between
the tea leaves a little bit here. Do you think
either side, maybe both decides that they can get a
better breakdown in terms of who has the appointment authority
at the State Supreme Court. Are they just going to
(28:20):
be kind of happy with where things sit right now?
Speaker 4 (28:23):
It's really it really remains to be seen. I suspect
that neither side is particularly happy with how this turned out,
largely because both ended up with some losses, and in fact,
this is a worse ruling in terms of the ultimate
outcome for the General Assembly than what they got from
the trial court. I imagine that they would be interested
(28:45):
in seeing whether the Supreme Court would go along with
giving all of the endorsing all changes to all seven boards.
The governor, of course, would like to see the four
boards where he lost to get a win from the
Supreme Court. But I'm guessing that his legal team looks
at the current make up of the Supreme Court and
(29:06):
probably is dubious about whether that's going to happen. So
I suspect we'll see some sort of appeal. It might
be from both sides, or it might just be from
one side. And if only one side appeals, my guess
would be the General Assembly just thinking that they might
be able to win on all seven boards at the
State Supreme Court, but you know, you might see the
(29:29):
governor appeal as well, just to make sure that this
gets its final ruling from the final court, the one
that has the final say on all of these state
constitutional issues.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
We've got a lot more details in detail, not only
on this story, but some of the other legal challenges
that have continued to pit the Republican led General Assembly
against Democrat governors, whether we're talking about Roy Cooper or
Josh Stein. You can read those details over at Carolina
Journal dot com. We appreciate the information and the insight.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
This morning.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on
the Carolina News Out.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Good morning again. It's five point fifty three.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Our News Talk
eleven ten ninety nine three WBT. Early voting across many
municipalities in North Carolina kicks off today ahead of the
municipal election day coming up on.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Tuesday, November the fourth.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
For more than three hundred and eighty North Carolina municipalities.
There are four hundred and forty seven cities, town and
villages in eighty eight different out of one hundred counties
across the state that will be conducting elections over the
next couple of weeks. Of those, sixty seven municipalities are
not using early or absentee voting. Most of them are
(30:43):
a very small townships, hamlets, and villages across the state.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
There's only a.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Couple one hundred residents, so they don't feel the need
to do any of the earlier absentee voting. All of this,
of course, ahead of election Day coming up the first
Tuesday of November, early voting will again kick off today
and taking a look at what voters across Mecklenburg County
can expect. While there will be a plethora of early
voting sites that open starting on Thursday next Thursday, October
(31:10):
the twenty third, between now and then, only one site
will be operational today and tomorrow, closed this weekend, then
reopening on Monday and running through the remaining of the
early voting period. That is at the hal Marshall Annex,
the address on that six eighteen North College Street in
Uptown Charlotte that will open up at eight o'clock this morning.
(31:31):
It runs from eight to five today and tomorrow, again
closed over the weekend and running eight to five, the
remainder of next week, plus a plethora of other municipality
locations that will open up. A list of tertiary looking
at this close to twenty locations will be opening in
the coming days. Most of those start on Thursday, October
(31:53):
the twenty third. During the early voting period, eligible individuals
who are not registered to vote and vote at the
same time. That is called same day registration at any
early voting site. It is important to note that that
is only something that is allowed during early voting. If
you are not registered on election day itself and show
up and try to vote, you cannot do what is
(32:15):
called same day registration and vote. That is only something
that is allowed during the early voting period. Voters must
be registered to vote in the municipality where they reside
to vote in its upcoming elections, and they can find
out if they are eligible to vote by going to
the State Board of Elections voter search tool that is
provided via the North Carolina State Board of Elections website,
(32:37):
and you will see a sample ballot if you do
have an election coming up here in early November. If
you do not see a sample ballot attached to your
voter registration record, then you are not eligible to vote
in any of the contests. Voters in many municipalities will
be selecting things like mayors and members of their local
governing bodies, whether you're talking about a city council or
(32:59):
a county mission. Other areas across the state will be
voting on things like water en sewer, sanitary district commissioners,
and of course, some ballot bonds are across the state
as well, including that big transportation bond coming up here
in Mecklenburg County. Sam Hayes, the executive director of the
State Board of Elections, said, quote, Municipal elections are a
(33:21):
huge undertaking across North Carolina. We appreciate the hard work
of our county officials and pull workers in administering these
important elections. Municipal elections represent another opportunity for voters to
make their voices heard in choosing their government leaders. Absentee
voting has also begun in participating municipalities. Eligible registered voters
(33:45):
may request a ballot online through the North Carolina Absentee
Ballot Portal or on paper using the twenty twenty five
Absentee Request Form. However, you do have to have the
request not the ballot in but the request in coming
up next Touesday, October the twenty first, and then it
can be returned anytime during that early voting period. Also
(34:06):
a quick reminder for those that may have had some
issues with their voter registration numbers due to the fact
that they were missing either a DMV driver's license number
or the last four digits of your Social Security number,
you could deal with some of slowdowns at the polls
of voting provisional, So make sure you head on over
to our website Carolina Journal dot com and check out
the registration repair project so you can make sure that
(34:28):
you are all set to go for either early voting
or election down. That's going to do it for a
Thursday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour WBT News
is next followed by Good Morning BT or Back with
You Tomorrow morning five to six right here on News
Talk eleven, ten and ninety nine three WBT
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Hour News TAC eleven, ten
ninety nine three WBT.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm Nicked Craig. A good morning to you.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
In some statewide news this morning, the North Carolina State
Health Plan announced on Wednesday the reinstatement of its long
standing exclusion of transition related treatments typically sought by transgender patients.
This announcement from the state Health Plan arrived on the
same day a court case challenging the exclusion officially returned
(00:41):
to a federal trial court from the Fourth US Circuit
Court of Appeals. The Fourth Circuit issued a September the
twenty third order in the case known as Cadell versus Fallwell,
That is, the that is referring to previous State Treasurer
Dale Fallwell, vacating a trial judge's twenty twenty two decision
to block that exclusion. The trial judge had requested that
(01:04):
the state health plan provide coverage for the disputed treatments,
the mandate from the appeals court. However, the order's order
rather reached the trial court on Wednesday. The decision reinstates
the State health Plan's exclusion of transition related treatments, according
to a news release from State Treasurer Brad Briner's office.
(01:26):
Briner oversees the State Health Plan as his predecessor in
Dale Folwell did, hence why his name was on the
court case. According to the news release, it reads, in part,
the exclusion dates back to the nineteen nineties and while
litigation has been ongoing and has continued to appear in
the annual list of exclusions for Planned members even though
(01:47):
it was inactive. The release also goes on to say
the court's decision to vacate the District Court's earlier ruling
means that the exclusion becomes active once again. The Plan
communicated this anticipated action to its patients or to its
members rather in the month of June. The news release
(02:07):
explained generally, the exclusion does not prevent the treatment of
any infection, injury, disease, disorder, or complication that has been
caused by, or exacerbated by the performance of gender medical, transition,
medical or pharmaceutical procedures. Additionally, in twenty twenty one, the
Plan's Board of trust these affirmed continued coverage for psychological
(02:31):
assessments and psychotherapy treatments in conjunction with a diagnosis or
connected to gender dysphoria, the reimplementation benefit exclusion does not
exclude some of those psychological assessments or treatments in these cases.
The release from again the State Treasurer's Office wrapped up
(02:51):
by saying plan staff is now working with our third
party administrator and healthcare providers to make sure this decision
is fully communicated to all members affected by its reinstatement. So,
as we've been covering, and there's been a little bit
on this story over the last year or so, US
District Judge Loretta Biggs issued a twenty twenty injunction which
(03:14):
forced the State Health Plan to provide some of that
disputed coverage, which, as we learn from the Treasurer's Office,
has been on the exclusion list going back to the
nineteen nineties. However, a split Fourth US Circuit Court of
Appeals voted eight to six to affirm Biggs's decision in
twenty twenty four. However, the United States Supreme Court issued
(03:36):
an order in June vacating the Fourth Circuit's ruling. The
High Court called on the Fourth Circuit to revisit this case,
Kadal versus Fallwell in light of the Supreme Court ruling
in another case that coming out of the state of
Tennessee called United States Versus Scurmeti. In that case, justices
upheld a Tennessee law banning things like puberty blockers and
(03:59):
hormone therapy for transgender teams. So, due to the case
in Tennessee and its close proximity to what has been
ongoing here in North Carolina, it has reopened the door
for the state Health plan to add back some of
those long standing exclusions. You can read some additional details
on this story this morning by visiting our website, Carolina
(04:21):
Journal dot com that headline story, state health plan responds
to recent rulings in transgender care case. Again those details
over at Carolina Journal dot com, where it's now five
oh nine News Talk eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT.
Early voting in over three hundred municipalities across the state
of North Carolina kicks off on this Thursday morning to
(04:43):
walk us through what some of those details look like.
Teresa Opeka, Carolina Journal dot Com joins us on the
news hour Teresa. Municipal elections they roll around every two
or four years here in North Carolina. What is the
latest that you're tracking as it relates to early voting.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
To or Good morning, Nick, thanks as always for having me.
So yeah, So that begins today for voters in three
hundred and eighty North Carolina municipalities ahead of the November
municipal elections. So to break it down, there's four hundred
and forty seven cities, towns, and villages in eighty eight
counties that are conducting elections. And of these, sixty seven
(05:20):
municipalities have chosen not to use early and absentee voting.
They're only going to be allowed to vote on election day,
which is Tuesday, November fourth, to just want to make
the listeners aware of that as well, and you know
the early voting sites and schedules, they're available at the
State Board of Elections Early Voting site search on their
(05:41):
website and also at early Voting Sites for the November fourth,
twenty twenty five municipal elections page that they have. So statewide,
there's about one hundred and forty four early voting sites
that will be open for the November elections.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Theresa, before get into with some of these other early
voting locations and some of those details, those sixty seven
municipalities that are not using early voting. In my research
of that, these seem to be very small communities, just
a couple one hundred people registered in some small towns
and villages across the state. So safe to say it's
probably just a logistical situation when you've only got maybe
(06:20):
a couple of hundred voters that are even eligible to vote, I.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Would think so. And you know, like you say, there
are such small communities, they probably maybe don't have enough
people to come out and maybe be there of the
times that are needed as well. So yeah, it's not
a significant portion of those areas that have that.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
As we look at what we are going to see
unfolding over the next couple of weeks, there are some
major races that are of course being watched the city
of Charlotte, the municipal elections there. Teres are probably going
to be ones that are being watched not only across
the state but the nation. As Charlotte has gotten so
much negative attention over the last couple of months. A
couple of murders just in the last few days, the
(07:00):
horrific murder of Arenas Ruska on the Charlotte light rail.
Three of these elections are really important, and unfortunately, voter
turnout seems to be always so incredibly low when you
don't have a big ticket name or a big ticket
race like a senator, a governor, or a president on
the ballot, right right.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, it's not a presidential year like last year. And
you know you said, we don't have the US Senate
race that's coming up next year, so this is kind
of an in between year where you don't see a
lot of activity at the polls. It will be interesting
to see how voters and Charlotte turnout, especially with everything
you just mentioned, you know, and ongoing crimes you murders
(07:41):
going up and things of that nature. Other areas that
have races too. We've got Durham and the Triangle, Fayetteville
and the sand Hills, and believe also what in Wilmington
out in the eastern part of the state. All different
areas have elections going on, But in particular it will
be interesting to follows Charlotte and see of voters will
(08:02):
be motivated to go out to the polls now more
than ever, since there's so much going on and right
now it's just not a good direction that things are
going in and.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Of course, we'll keep a running tab on some of
these early voting totals. We won't have the results, but
we will have a pretty good idea of the actual
number of individuals that have gone out and voted. We'll
keep you up to date with those details right here
on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Something that I do
want to mention, Teresaan We've talked about it in the past,
is due to some ongoing lawsuits with the Department of
(08:33):
Justice about a decade or so, if not more, of
questions over voter registration practices in North Carolina, Individuals who
do not have the required have a Federal information on
file in North Carolina, there will be a different process
for them as well.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Right if you don't have that information, you can vote provisionally.
They do give you a provisional ballot to fill out
and fill out a form with North Carolina Driver's license
or DMVD number or the last four digits of their
Social Security number. And then after the election day of
(09:11):
the county boards of Elections will need to determine whether
that voter provided the required identification for their ballot to
be counted. And also, of course I want to mention
the registration repair project. That was an initiative launched by
the Board of Elections earlier this year that's aiming to
alleviate some of these issues by collecting driver's license numbers
(09:33):
or the last four of their socials from registered voters
who do not have one of these numbers in the
voter registration database. They can also check that out on
their website as well. But yeah, they can vote provisionally
in case they don't have that information.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, and of course helpful that this is happening during
a municipal election where yes, there is a shorter and
smaller turnout in some cases, a shorter early voting window
of the big midterm elections that will be heading to
North Carolina early next year with the primary and then
of course wrapping up with a general or a full
on general election in November of next year. Now the
(10:12):
early voting three So there's been some discussion in years
past about the length of early voting. As we talk
about what's going on here this morning, October the sixteenth,
early voting does begin in many areas and it goes
on for a significant period of time all the way
till the first of November. There's a really no excuse
for folks not to get out and vote if they're eligible,
that's right.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
They've got plenty of time. And of course too, you
can mentioned absentee voting that's also begun in the participating municipalities,
and that just excuse me. Eligible registered voters, they can
request a ballot online. Again, we have got all the
details in the article on Carolina Journal dot com, but
they have to do that until I believe it's five
(10:54):
pm on Tuesday, October twenty first, that's a little bit
shorter to request a now absentee ballot. Yeah, but there's
definitely no excuse. You got plenty of time to get
out and vote, either on election day or early voting,
which starts today.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
We will keep an eye and keep a track on
some of these numbers and details as this early voting
period takes place across the state. We appreciate the details
this morning, and as Teresa noted, you can get some
more information by visiting our website this morning, Carolina Journal
dot com. Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal
News Hour. It's twenty two minutes past the hour. Welcome
(11:32):
back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk eleven
ten ninety nine three WBT and some other statewide news
that we are tracking this morning. More than six point
five billion dollars in medical debt has been eliminated for
more than two and a half million North Carolinians in
the past year, according to a recent announcement from Governor
Josh Stein, who announced that on Monday alongside the North
(11:56):
Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in the Secretary
there the state's medical debt relief program, which is being
facilitated by undue medical debt, was started in July of
twenty twenty four by then former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper
and the former Secretary of NCDHHS. As medical debt does
(12:17):
remain a big issue for many American families, a west
Health Gallop Health survey revealed that up to twelve percent,
or approximately thirty one million Americans reported borrowing an estimated
total seventy four billion dollars in the past twelve months
to cover health care costs for themselves or a household
(12:38):
family member. A majority of Americans, some fifty eight percent,
shared concerns that they would experience medical debt if they
faced a major health event. However, Joseph Harris, a fiscal
policy analyst for the John Locke Foundation, says the issue
is not quite as simple as debt forgiveness. He told
The Carolina Journal quote the medical debt forgiveness may appear compassionate,
(13:02):
but it's built on the same unstable, taxpayer provided shell
game that the federal government is now trying to fix
in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Under the debt Forgiveness plan,
hospitals erase patient debt in exchange for higher Medicaid payments
from the state. Those higher payments trigger greater federal matching funds,
(13:23):
which the state then uses to cover the extra reimbursement.
The state itself also collects a provider tax from these
hospitals to offset some of the share.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Of those payments.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Harris concluded by saying, in effect, unpaid medical bills are
being shifted from patients to federal taxpayers through a circular
funding scheme. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services asked the United States Center for Medicare and Medicaid,
which has the acronymic CMS no relation to Charlotte, to
approve a set of conditional hospitals that they must meet
(13:59):
in order to be eligible to receive an enhanced amount
of Medicaid funds, and under the new agreement, hospitals are
required or will be required. I should say to implement
the following policies, including relieving all medical debt deemed uncollectible
dating back to January first, twenty fourteen. For any individuals
(14:19):
not enrolled in Medicaid with an income that is at
least or below three hundred and fifty percent of the
federal poverty level, or whom is a total debt exceeds
five percent of annual income. They must also relieve all
unpaid medical debt dating back to January first, twenty fourteen.
For individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid not on any
(14:40):
sort of private insurance, provide discounts on medical bills of
between a fifty and one hundred percent. Four parties with
incomes at or below three hundred percent the federal poverty level,
with the amount of the discount varying based on the
patient's income, automatically enrolling people in financial assistance known as
charity care by implementing a policy for presumptive determination eligibility
(15:04):
for financial assistance through a streamline screening approach process. And
then two final things that these hospitals must follow not
selling any medical debt for a customers with incomes at
a blow that three hundred percent federal poverty level to
a debt collector, and not reporting a patient's debt covered
by these policies to any credit reporting agencies. Hospitals that
(15:28):
agreed to the requirements would be eligible for enhanced payments
under the Health Access and Stabilization Program known as HASP.
The conditions include relieving some four billion dollars, which was
exceeded by two and a half billion dollars in existing
medical debt for two million low and middle class income
(15:48):
North Carolinians, and establishing some of those policies to prevent further.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Accumulation of medical debt. The governor said in an announcement
earlier this.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Week, quote medical debt is a tremendous weight, keeping so
many families from financial security, and unlike most other forms
of debt, it's not a choice. Today's announcement will free
people from the financial stress so that they can focus
on getting healthy. I thank Governor Roy Cooper, DHS Secretary
Cody Kinsley, and the hospitals that partnered with the State
(16:22):
of North Carolina to make these life changing change this
life changing news possible. I urge the General Assembly to
keep this momentum going by coming back to the table
and fully funding Medicaid. The program does not utilize state funds.
It is important to note in eligible individuals do not
need to take any other additional action. That debt will
(16:45):
just be admonished by the hospital and you'll likely receive
some sort of communication from the hospital that that debt
has been has been washed away. People across the state
have begun receiving letters from hospitals letting them know that
their debt has in fact been forgiven. Additionally, Undue Medical
Debt is sending letters to thousands of North Carolinians letting
(17:07):
them know that they had some or all of their
debt relieved. At least two hundred and fifty five thousand
letters are being sent this same week as that announcement
was being made, with additional letters to follow in the
coming months and years. It's definitely a very interesting story
from the governor announcement a big announcement. Six point five
(17:27):
billion dollars in medical debt, no small sum of money,
and this will affect more than two and a half
million North Carolinians. However, as Joseph Harris from the John
Locke Foundation notes it's kind of a circular funding model
where now federal taxpayers are picking up some of those
medical tabs here in the state of North Carolina. We've
got some additional coverage this morning on our website, Carolina
(17:48):
Journal dot com. You can read that story and check
out a full press conference from the governor. The headline there,
NC program wipes out six point five billion dollars in
medical debt for two point five million residents. Again those
details at Carolina Journal dot com.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
It's five thirty six.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal news Our news Stock
eleven ten ninety nine three WBT. If you miss any
portion of our show weekday mornings here live on WBT,
you can check out the Carolina Journal News Hour podcast.
It's available in Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you
get your shows. Search for the Carolina Journal News Hour,
tap the subscribe or follow button, and you'll take a
(18:31):
new program with you each and every weekday morning. It's
the Carolina Journal News Hour Podcast. Download and subscribe. Now,
we've been covering a couple of pretty big lawsuits that
pit the Republican led General Assembly against Democrat Governor Josh
Stein in one of those cases. A major update this
week to let us know about that case and its
future implications. It's my pleasure to welcome Mitch Koki from
(18:51):
the John Locke Foundation back to our airwaves this morning
on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, these lawsuits have
been going on now for quite some time. Pretty big break.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
In one of them. What's going on?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Some of these cases in fact pre date Governor Josh
Stein coming into office. They go back to the closing
days of Roy Cooper's tenure as governor. And that's what
happened in this case that we're talking about now, a
case that started out as Cooper v. Berger and by
the time it was decided, was actually called Stein vie Berger.
(19:23):
Pitts the governor against the Republican led General Assembly over
changes to appointments to seven different state boards and commissions. Now,
basically the gist of it is that the governor challenged
changes in state law to change the way that the
appointments were done to all seven state boards and commissions.
(19:45):
This case went before a three judge trial court panel,
and that court issued basically a split decision. The judges
were unanimous, but they split on what they decided. They
basically said that the General Assembly was within its rights
to make changes to five of the boards and commissions,
but overstepped and violated the separation of powers in changes
(20:09):
to two of the different commissions. So it was five
wins for the General Assembly, essentially two for the governor.
This case got to the State Court of Appeals and
it went before a three judge panel at the State
Court of Appeals, all Republicans, and basically that the upshot
is that the Court of Appeals ruled, instead of five
(20:29):
to two for three, that the General Assembly was within
its power to make four of the changes that were
made to boards and commissions, but got it wrong on
three of the boards. Now, basically the ones where the
governor wins are the Economic Investment Committee, which is a
(20:50):
group that decides on target at tax incentives, the State
Board of Transportation, which deals with transportation issues as you
might expect, and the one in which the governor gets
the win at the Court of Appeals where he lost
at the trial court level is the Commission for Public Health. Basically,
there are a lot of details here, but the appeals
(21:12):
court says the way the General Assembly went about making
the changes, overstepped its bounds and encroached on the Governor's authority. Now,
while the Governor gets wins on all three of those,
the General Assembly wins at the Appeals Court on the
Environmental Management Commission, the Coastal Resources Commission, the Wildlife for
Sources Commission, and also changes that move the Building Code
(21:36):
Council to this new Residency Code Council. So kind of
a split verdict on this. And this also has implications
for another ongoing fight that you and I have talked about,
because just after this ruling came out on Wednesday morning,
they panel overseeing another fight between Stein and legislative leaders
(21:57):
issued in order saying, hey, the of Appeals our court
just issued this ruling. We want you to tell us
how this case affects our case. And this is a
case that deals with an appointment to the State Utilities Commission.
It also deals with the Building co Council in another respect,
and it deals with judicial vacancies. This ruling won't really
(22:19):
have any impact on the Judicial vacancy's piece, but it
certainly could have an impact on the fight over the
Utilities Commission appointment and the Building Code Council, And basically
one of the main arguments that came out of this
that will essentially affect the Utilities commission appointment is that
the appeals court did not buy the governor's argument that
(22:43):
shifting an appointment from the governor to another elected member
of the Council of State was a violation of the
separation of powers. The court order was specific in saying
that the executive branch, whether it's the governor or in
this case, the Insurance Commissioner or the Agriculture Commissioner, and
(23:05):
in the case of the Utilities commissioned in the separate case,
it would be the State treasurer. If those bodies together
have the majority of appointments, that means the executive branch
has the majority of appointments. So that could really be
interesting moving forward if the General Assembly wants to do
this in other cases where they take an appointment that
(23:25):
is now in the hands of Josh Stein and hand
it off to another member of the Council of State.
At least in this case the Stein wie Berger ruling,
the Court of Appeal says that's okay, that's not a
violation of the separation of powers, and.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
It's kind of interesting that.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
You know, we talk a lot about and you'll hear
a lot about the executive branch and the first reaction
of courses in Washington, d c. Where you've got the
President of the United States who essentially dictates everything that
goes on out of the executive branch. Kind of unique
set up here in North Carolina. While the governor does
sit on the top, and he is of course the
individual who gets a lot of the mead attention, a lot
(24:01):
of the things flow to him, the legislation from the
General Assembly, there are these other Council of State members
who are not only influential in what they do, but
they also appeared on a statewide ballot and were potentially
elected by tens of millions of voters across North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
And that's one of the arguments Nick, that the General
Assembly has been making during the course of this is
that unlike Washington, which has a unitary executive, all of
the power eventually flows to the president. Of course, a
lot of executive offices and the president doesn't actually have
a hand in everything that the federal government does, but
the buck stops with him when it comes to executive
(24:40):
branch decisions. Whereas there is a plural executive and always
has been in North Carolina because of the North Carolina
founder's fear of having one all powerful person at the
head of the executive branch. And so you have not
only the governor, you have the nine other statewide execus
necative branch officials who are elected by voters, as you
(25:03):
pointed out, and they make up the Council of State.
And so shifting some power from the governor to another
member of the Council of State doesn't take the power
away from the executive branch. The governor, in his arguments
in this case and others that have involved transfers from
his office to another member of the Council of State,
(25:25):
has basically said, well, but the governor is really the power,
and the governor needs to be able to show that,
to be able to show that these laws are being
put into effect. And at least in this case, the
court is saying, well, but that's not exactly how it
works here in North Carolina. The General Assembly can shift
some of this power to other members of the Council
(25:48):
of State and still keep that power within the executive branch.
It's not taking the power for itself. As the legislative branch.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
So one of the interesting things that we've covered in
some of these previous cases is whether it's the State
Board of Elections or the Utilities Commission. Some of the
more high profile cases that we've discussed, Mitch, the power
of political structure of those boards have changed dramatically in
many cases, going from Democrat control most of the time
three to two democrats to republicans to now the other
way around, three republicans two democrats. Are we going to
(26:20):
see similar things based on this decision from the appeals court.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
It's entirely possible. I think. One of the things that
we've seen in recent years is that the General Assembly
has been testing out what will work and what will
pass muster with the courts. We saw several different ways
of going about it. With the case that that was
decided this week's toe by Berger, they took some appointments
(26:45):
from the governor, gave them to another member of the
Council of State. They expanded one board, allowed the governor
to continue to have a majority of appointments, but then
gave the General Assembly more appointments and set some changes
into the the quorum rules. They also set some different
rules about the governor would have more appointments than the
(27:08):
General Assembly, but then an outside group had some appointments.
All of those I think involved the General Assembly testing
what was not only something that they thought could fly
in terms of making the operations work for these various agencies,
but what would fly with the courts, and at least
with this decision in steinbe Berger, if it holds up,
(27:31):
if there's not no appeal to the Supreme Court. Of
the Supreme Court says something different that if this decision
stands or if it's affirmed by the state Supreme Court,
it means that shifting an appointment from the governor to
another member of the Council of State is something that's
going to stand up under the North Carolina Constitution. And
if that's true, we're likely to see more of it
(27:53):
if there are other opportunities to do that.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You kind of took the next question out of my mouth. Here.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
This is the North Carolina Court of Appeals that made
this decision. The higher you can go. The highest you
can go is the North Carolina Supreme Court. Mintioning your
experience following these cases, maybe ask you to read between
the tea leaves a little bit here. Do you think
either side, maybe both decides that they can get a
better breakdown in terms of who has the appointment authority
at the State Supreme Court. Are they just going to
(28:20):
be kind of happy with where things sit right now?
Speaker 4 (28:23):
It's really it really remains to be seen. I suspect
that neither side is particularly happy with how this turned out,
largely because both ended up with some losses, and in fact,
this is a worse ruling in terms of the ultimate
outcome for the General Assembly than what they got from
the trial court. I imagine that they would be interested
(28:45):
in seeing whether the Supreme Court would go along with
giving all of the endorsing all changes to all seven boards.
The governor, of course, would like to see the four
boards where he lost to get a win from the
Supreme Court. But I'm guessing that his legal team looks
at the current make up of the Supreme Court and
(29:06):
probably is dubious about whether that's going to happen. So
I suspect we'll see some sort of appeal. It might
be from both sides, or it might just be from
one side. And if only one side appeals, my guess
would be the General Assembly just thinking that they might
be able to win on all seven boards at the
State Supreme Court, but you know, you might see the
(29:29):
governor appeal as well, just to make sure that this
gets its final ruling from the final court, the one
that has the final say on all of these state
constitutional issues.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
We've got a lot more details in detail, not only
on this story, but some of the other legal challenges
that have continued to pit the Republican led General Assembly
against Democrat governors, whether we're talking about Roy Cooper or
Josh Stein. You can read those details over at Carolina
Journal dot com. We appreciate the information and the insight.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
This morning.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on
the Carolina News Out.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Good morning again. It's five point fifty three.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Our News Talk
eleven ten ninety nine three WBT. Early voting across many
municipalities in North Carolina kicks off today ahead of the
municipal election day coming up on.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Tuesday, November the fourth.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
For more than three hundred and eighty North Carolina municipalities.
There are four hundred and forty seven cities, town and
villages in eighty eight different out of one hundred counties
across the state that will be conducting elections over the
next couple of weeks. Of those, sixty seven municipalities are
not using early or absentee voting. Most of them are
(30:43):
a very small townships, hamlets, and villages across the state.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
There's only a.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Couple one hundred residents, so they don't feel the need
to do any of the earlier absentee voting. All of this,
of course, ahead of election Day coming up the first
Tuesday of November, early voting will again kick off today
and taking a look at what voters across Mecklenburg County
can expect. While there will be a plethora of early
voting sites that open starting on Thursday next Thursday, October
(31:10):
the twenty third, between now and then, only one site
will be operational today and tomorrow, closed this weekend, then
reopening on Monday and running through the remaining of the
early voting period. That is at the hal Marshall Annex,
the address on that six eighteen North College Street in
Uptown Charlotte that will open up at eight o'clock this morning.
(31:31):
It runs from eight to five today and tomorrow, again
closed over the weekend and running eight to five, the
remainder of next week, plus a plethora of other municipality
locations that will open up. A list of tertiary looking
at this close to twenty locations will be opening in
the coming days. Most of those start on Thursday, October
(31:53):
the twenty third. During the early voting period, eligible individuals
who are not registered to vote and vote at the
same time. That is called same day registration at any
early voting site. It is important to note that that
is only something that is allowed during early voting. If
you are not registered on election day itself and show
up and try to vote, you cannot do what is
(32:15):
called same day registration and vote. That is only something
that is allowed during the early voting period. Voters must
be registered to vote in the municipality where they reside
to vote in its upcoming elections, and they can find
out if they are eligible to vote by going to
the State Board of Elections voter search tool that is
provided via the North Carolina State Board of Elections website,
(32:37):
and you will see a sample ballot if you do
have an election coming up here in early November. If
you do not see a sample ballot attached to your
voter registration record, then you are not eligible to vote
in any of the contests. Voters in many municipalities will
be selecting things like mayors and members of their local
governing bodies, whether you're talking about a city council or
(32:59):
a county mission. Other areas across the state will be
voting on things like water en sewer, sanitary district commissioners,
and of course, some ballot bonds are across the state
as well, including that big transportation bond coming up here
in Mecklenburg County. Sam Hayes, the executive director of the
State Board of Elections, said, quote, Municipal elections are a
(33:21):
huge undertaking across North Carolina. We appreciate the hard work
of our county officials and pull workers in administering these
important elections. Municipal elections represent another opportunity for voters to
make their voices heard in choosing their government leaders. Absentee
voting has also begun in participating municipalities. Eligible registered voters
(33:45):
may request a ballot online through the North Carolina Absentee
Ballot Portal or on paper using the twenty twenty five
Absentee Request Form. However, you do have to have the
request not the ballot in but the request in coming
up next Touesday, October the twenty first, and then it
can be returned anytime during that early voting period. Also
(34:06):
a quick reminder for those that may have had some
issues with their voter registration numbers due to the fact
that they were missing either a DMV driver's license number
or the last four digits of your Social Security number,
you could deal with some of slowdowns at the polls
of voting provisional, So make sure you head on over
to our website Carolina Journal dot com and check out
the registration repair project so you can make sure that
(34:28):
you are all set to go for either early voting
or election down. That's going to do it for a
Thursday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour WBT News
is next followed by Good Morning BT or Back with
You Tomorrow morning five to six right here on News
Talk eleven, ten and ninety nine three WBT
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