Monkey Business Report: STILL counting votes

The election was two weeks ago.  We’ve still got counties that can’t supply official results. We’ve still got counties counting votes. We’ve still got important races hanging in limbo.  Here’s where we stood on Friday:

A 5 p.m. Friday deadline passed and the North Carolina State Board of Elections, led by a Democratic majority and Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell, indicated counties that did not meet it are at no penalty.

Closely watched across the state is a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, where Republican Jefferson Griffin is trying to unseat incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs. Early Friday evening, with 13 counties still unofficial, Griffin led by 2,753 votes.

Wake County is the largest voting bloc still unofficial. Counties definitive to reconvene in meetings to finish on Monday are Chatham, Craven, Cumberland, Forsyth, Randolph and Yancey. Others at time of publication yet to finish are Brunswick, Durham, Halifax, Pasquotank, Sampson and Watauga.

Nineteen of 100 counties were unofficial at the bewitching hour of 5, according to the website of the State Board of Elections. […]

As of right now, the state board of elections reports that FIVE COUNTIES  — Dare, Craven, Dupllin, Forsyth, and Northampton — still have unofficial vote results.

That’s right.  We are two weeks past the big vote.

I’m old enough to remember when we voted in a day and counted the votes in ONE DAY.  I can also remember when election issues were settled within 48 hours of Election Day.

Now, we have voter registration at the DMV.  We have same-day, one-stop registration and voting.  We have about a month’s worth of *early voting.* You can get an absentee vote for any reason whatsoever.

There are registrations and ballots in all kinds of nooks and crannies.  Two weeks after the election provides an environment where the media stops paying attention and the campaign volunteers and voters return to their normal lives.  Things move into the back rooms.  And the environment — with fewer eyes watching — becomes ripe for mischief.  

How long have Republicans held a veto-proof majority?  How long have they had an opportunity to *fix* our screwed-up, drawn-out election process? 

Fixing the election process has taken a back seat to sports betting, casinos, and legalizing weed.  THAT stuff has a bunch of lobbyists who $pay$ pretty well.

Let’s not forget saving the political careers of Berger’s kid and his colleagues on the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners.  

 Some of *our folks* in Raleigh benefit sometimes from this drawn-out, screwed-up mess.

Why bother fixing the election process?  In the current scenario, IF things go badly for the establishment, it can all be *fixed* in the extended aftermath that takes place behind closed doors.

Politicians rarely listen to us as-is.  If they’re allowed to keep this election mess as-is, you can truly forget this democracy *thingie.*

You get what you ask for. You get what you vote for.  You get what you tolerate.