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NC GOP Launches 'Election Integrity Committee'

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whately says that election integrity "is an issue we must address head-on to move forward as a party and as a country." Photo courtesy NCGOP

The North Carolina Republican Party has formed a committee to address what they are calling “election integrity” in next year's election.

The 16-member “Election Integrity Committee” was set to launch following the state GOP convention this past weekend, where former President Donald Trump was the keynote speaker.

According to the state party Chairman Michael Whatley, the committee is needed “to ensure the 2022 elections in North Carolina remain fair and transparent.”  

The News & Observer reports the committee will be chaired by former state senator Buck Newton and will include other GOP officials, lawyers, and political consultants.

The group will make recommendations to the state and county election boards, as well as recruit poll observers and volunteers.

Bobbie Richardson chairs the North Carolina Democratic Party. Richardson released a statement saying that the GOP is “operating in voter fraud hysteria, propping up election integrity as an excuse to continue pushing bills that restrict voting.”

Richardson says that state Democrats plan to respond by strengthening their Voter Protection program, an effort to combat voter suppression and increase voter registration efforts.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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