On the fourth day of North Carolina Early Voting, I drove to a polling place to cast my 2024 ballot. Afterwards, walking out into the bright morning sunlight, I felt relief that the chore was done. Eight months will pass before need arises again. Not a half-minute later, a remark by a presidential candidate flooded my mind. He’d told Christian advocacy group attendees that they would never need to vote again…if he returns to the presidency. ‘My lord’, I thought, ‘have I just cast the last ballot of my life?’ That I may never again exercise my constitutional right to choose those who speak for me in lawmaking bodies?

Is he serious? It would seem so. He’s repeated it again, talked of bloodshed, killing, running people out of the country, and threatened to have protesters shot.

In 2018, Cold Mountain author Charles Frazier published Varina. An historical fiction in which Varina Davis, wife of Confederate States president Jefferson Davis, walks the reader through her life. Long after her husband’s death, Varina muses, “Taking the life of a nation is a serious task. Few succeed, even if the cause is just. We didn’t, and ours wasn’t.”

For months, I’ve fretted over how close our democracy is to collapse. Regardless of one’s political leanings, bear in mind the inherent danger posed by a political party’s seeming intent to “take the life of a nation.” That’s your nation. My nation too! And as Varina Davis notes, the cause isn’t just. Not even close.

A terrifying threat. That a presidential candidate, and the party to which he belongs, openly propose to shred our constitution, toss out the rule of law, and hand ultimate power to one who covets authoritarian control and dictatorship.

How did our United States of America arrive on the doorstep of this threatened demise?

Since January 2009, I’ve spoken, written, marched, and sung of gerrymandering’s perils…the practice by which political parties rig elections—in their favor—through creative map-drawing.

As noted here previously, the North Carolina General Assembly operates with a veto-proof majority. The governor is powerless to weigh in on legislation and management of our state. In 2022, when the state Supreme Court majority flipped, this same General Assembly was gifted a rubber- stamp for all they wished.

‘But what about balance of power’, you ask? ‘Is that not a prime pillar of a democracy?’ Yes, it is…and it’s gone. Locked down by a tiny group of people…who answer to no one. They cannot be voted out or removed from office as long as they control election outcomes!

They’ve stacked the woodpile with their very own snakes, and We the People are helpless to change that state of affairs…

…unless we go to the polls and vote. For our democracy!

After the January 6, 2021 brouhaha at the Capital—and the subsequent refusal by so many to acknowledge the final results of the 2020 election—it’s not unreasonable to wonder what might be in store after election results begin to stack up. Will there be cries of fraud, cheating, voting machine malfunctions, and unfounded criticism of mail-in ballots? Will there be violence? Will scores upon scores of lawsuits be filed across the land?

Perhaps, but here at home in the Old North State, know that our elections will be safe and secure. Last week, the North Carolina Network for Fair, Safe, and Secure Elections held the final of twenty-three townhall panels. The network is co-led by former elected officials from opposite sides of the political aisle: Bob Orr, a past Republican state Supreme Court Justice, and Jennifer Roberts, Charlotte’s former Democratic Charlotte mayor. Inspired by the Carter Center in 2021, the Fair, Safe, and Secure Elections initiative is a public ‘good government’ organization…dedicated to upholding the integrity of election administration in North Carolina. Its primary goal is to enhance confidence and trust in NC elections by educating the public about best practices, and conducting research on electoral processes.

These bipartisan hearings addressed common “election myths” through expert testimonies, and laid out an accurate understanding of election administration and integrity in North Carolina.

Hear North Carolina State Election Director Karen Brinson Bell (at 12:47). “I can proudly say that all 100 County Board of Elections will open (for) early voting on Thursday morning, in those affected counties (by hurricane Helene). We will have 76 sites open. Eighty were planned. (I)t’s just remarkable! A real testament…to the working partnerships with State Emergency Management and the National Guard. We could quickly respond, and knew how to operate with them. They understood elections and boosted our response. Also…know that the State Board of Elections worked in a bipartisan manner, and unanimously passed legislation to give flexibility…to adjust polling places and early voting (sites.)”

Listen, as well, to attorney David Hood, Republican member of the Catawba County Board of Elections (at 1:31:08): “Try to be more confident than some people want you to be about our election system. If you have watched this for the hour last hour and a half, and don’t feel more confident, than I’m afraid you weren’t paying attention. This is a really good system that we have here. I’m proud of it.”

Finally, Jennifer Roberts (at 1:27:33): “Every time I hear you explain our system, and all the checks and balances, and the way machines work, I’m even more confident that we’re not getting hacked and we’re going to have a great safe and secure election season.”

Another former Charlotte mayor, and also North Carolina governor, Republican Pat McCrory, is onto this as well. He chairs North Carolina’s work with nonprofit Right Count to educate the public about the voting rules and procedures in battleground states.

We at Flush GerryMander fervently hope you’ll vote…with eyes and souls wide open. Ask yourself what is more important, partisan loyalty…or our democracy. Know…absolutely…that if we give that precious creation away and allow the very life of our democracy to be taken, we’ll never get it back!!!