Libertarian challenges constitutionality
DURHAM (Sept. 27) - Calling Amendment One an "attempt to defraud the
voters," Susan Hogarth, Libertarian candidate for Wake County Commission,
filed a lawsuit Sept. 22 challenging the constitutionality of the ballot
proposal.
"What voters will see on their ballot is an altered, abbreviated and
highly prejudicial abridgment of the amendment as proposed by the General
Assembly," said Hogarth. "This is patently fraudulent. Voters will be
asked to vote for one thing, but actually get something else."
Hogarth, who is also Wake County Libertarian Party vice chair, opposes
Amendment One for several reasons. The initiative will allow local
governments to sell so-called self-financing bonds without voter approval.
"This is just another corporate welfare scheme," she said. "It's also a
stealth tax increase."
Her major objection, however, is to the deception being used to
promote the initiative. "What bothers me the most is that the voters are
being treated in such a high-handed matter," she said. "Politicians say
We're the government. We're looking out for you. Trust us. Don't you
favor jobs and prosperity?'"
In the suit she wrote herself, Hogarth said North Carolina voters are
entitled to an "honest presentation of the choices in the most weighty of
all matters before a citizen - a change in the governing constitution of
the state."
The state board of elections is required by law to "certify the
accuracy of the content on the official ballot."
"They have not done that," Hogarth said. "The State Board of Elections
informed me that the language on the ballot was dictated by the
legislature and they had to follow the General Assembly's instructions in
preparing the ballot."
"If I, as a candidate, informed the BoE that I wanted my line on the
ballot to read 'Check here for Jobs and Progress," I somehow doubt they
would accept that as an accurate representation of the voters' choices,"
she said. "Why then should the General Assembly receive special treatment
when it has a line on the ballot?"
The suit was filed in Wake County Superior Court Sept. 22. It seeks a
judgment that the Amendment One ballot wording violates state law and a
permanent injunction prohibiting any tally of ballots based on that
wording.
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