Carolina Public Press
1 main st
Suite 2
Durham, NC 27502
Website
Formation
February 2017
Type
Redistricting Litigation Nonprofit
Tax ID
46-0801080
Tax Status
501(c)(3)
Budget
Revenue: 397,267
Expenses: 338,690
Assets: 161,921
Expenses: 338,690
Assets: 161,921
President/CEO
Latest Tax Filing
Carolina Public Press is a left-leaning newspaper organization based in the Western part of North Carolina. They were founded in 2011 as a project of “The Institute for Southern Studies,” an advocacy organization that has started several other left-leaning organizations throughout the South including Brown Lung Association, The Miami Workers Center, North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Southerners for Economic Justice, and Facing South.
While Carolina Public Press states it is nonpartisan, it receives substantial funds from progressive organizations, including the Facebook Journalism Project, the Knight Foundation, and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
9-14 election data dump: Which NC General Assembly districts are in play?
As we settle into the second week of absentee voting in North Carolina, let’s take stock of how voting by mail in North Carolina stacks up to previous midterm elections. This is also a good time to look forward to what districts may be close as ballots are counted on November 3. Absentee [what about...
Your Aunt Betty can’t legally deliver your ballot
The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) approved guidelines for county boards on handling absentee ballots during a September 4 meeting, in the form of a numbered memo. It was a 3-2 party-line vote. The new absentee ballot guidance The SBE has not yet published the guidelines on its numbered memo page. A draft...
What the voter ID amendment does and does not do
When North Carolina voters mark their ballots for the November 3 election, they will consider three constitutional amendments. One of them states, “Constitutional amendment to require all voters, not just those presenting to vote in person, to present photo identification before voting.” In other words, people who vote absentee by mail must also present a...
9-7 election data dump: North Carolina’s election begins
North Carolina’s election began on September 4, with county boards of elections distributing absentee ballots and accepting voted ballots online from military and overseas voters. County boards accepted ten ballots that same day. With that start, we will also start a weekly review of election data. North Carolina has the longest absentee ballot voting period...
Op-Ed: Will Black voters save the Democratic Party from socialism?
This op-ed originally appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal on August 27. While Black voters have long been the most consistent supporters of the Democratic Party, they are also some of the most politically diverse. Those traits may save the party from plunging off an extremist ideological cliff into political oblivion. More than 80 percent of...
Fix North Carolina’s candidate withdrawal and absentee ballot deadline problems
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s fight to withdraw his name from the ballot in 2024 exposed the need to reform North Carolina’s candidate withdrawal and absentee ballot deadline laws. Two years later, they still need reform. North Carolina starts voting long before any other state Under North Carolina law, county boards of elections must start sending...
How do 2026 early voting plans compare to 2022?
In the summer of every federal election year, North Carolina is treated to a bit of drama over early voting sites, with Democrats and Republicans trading barbs over a handful of counties where election boards could not reach consensus on early voting sites, days, or hours. 2026 is hardly different. Following acrimony over early voting...
North Carolina scores well on an election policy but could do better
A Washington, D.C.–based think tank has released an election policy scorecard for all fifty states North Carolina scored relatively well across six election policy areas There is still room for improvement to make North Carolina elections better administered and more secure A national think tank recently rated all fifty states on election policy. North Carolina...
How “swingy” are North Carolina General Assembly districts?
While most North Carolina General Assembly districts trend Republican, this looks like a good year for Democrats. They enjoy a 48-42.6 percent advantage over Republicans on the state legislative generic ballot, according to the August Carolina Journal poll. That means some Republican-leaning districts could go their way. Districts, however, vary in their tendency to shift...
Cary case is a wake-up call to combat local government secrecy, waste, and corruption
A state auditor’s report found that, under the leadership of Town Manager Sean Stegall, the town of Cary was rife with improper spending and corrupt practices Even though Cary’s corruption was caused by the hired town manager, the council-manager system used by the town is associated with less corruption than the mayor-council system Municipalities like...
State Board of Elections proposes new campaign finance rules
The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed a series of campaign finance rules and amendments. Brief summaries of the proposals are below, along with information on how to make a public comment. Those comments are collected by SBE staff, who will present them to board members before the board votes on the...
Public Comment on House Bill 958: “Election Law Changes”
The following is my prepared public comment presented on House Bill 958, “Election Law Changes,” at the July 28 meeting of the North Carolina Senate Committee on Elections: I am Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation. I speak in favor of House Bill 958. The bill provides numerous changes that will make our state...
New voter ID rules better adhere to state law
The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) adopted several rule changes on July 16. The most controversial was a change from a requirement that county elections boards need a unanimous vote of board members who find grounds for a photo ID exception form to be false to a majority vote. The new rule better...
Is there an ideal number of early voting days?
A pair of bills in the General Assembly reflects very different views of early voting Research shows a weak relationship between early voting and voter turnout A reasonable compromise would be to reduce the number of early voting days but require one Sunday of early voting A pair of bills on early voting were submitted...
Public comment on proposed voting site rules
The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed changes to the rules governing voting sites, specifically addressing buffer zones next to voting sites, electioneering zones, and noise that may disturb peace and good order at voting sites. I offered a public comment on those proposals at an SBE hearing on June 29. The...
Public comment on proposed absentee voting rules
The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed a new section to absentee voting rules, specifically addressing how election officials should handle absentee ballots with deficiencies, such as missing required information. I offered a public comment at an SBE hearing on June 22. The prepared text of that comment is below: I am...
Performance audits and other additions reinforce elections bill
House Bill 958, Election Law Changes, appeared to be moving quickly through the General Assembly last year. It featured a host of election reforms, as seen in John Locke Foundation reviews of the original bill and a later amended version. But then it suddenly dropped off the radar. Now it is back, bigger and, mostly,...
Op-Ed: North Carolina and Virginia should declare a gerrymandering truce
This op-ed originally appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Greensboro News & Record. It is reprinted here with their permission. 2026 has become an unexpectedly fierce mid-decade continuation of America’s ongoing gerrymandering war. North Carolina and Virginia are both battlegrounds in that war, but there is a way they can call a cease-fire on...
Public comment on proposed voter ID rules
The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed changes to voter ID rules. I offered a public comment at an SBE hearing on June 9. The prepared text of that comment is below: I am Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation. I support both the proposed voter ID rules changes. Many of...
Public comment on proposed election recount rules
The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed changes to the recount process. I offered a public comment at an SBE hearing on June 8. The prepared text of that comment is below: I am Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation. I support the proposed rules changes for recounts. The changes to 0106...
Fixing the Jackson County early voting site problem
The Jackson County Board of Elections (BOE) failed to reach a unanimous agreement on early voting site locations for the 2026 general election. That means the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) will make that determination by August. There are two competing plans, each with four early voting sites, one fewer than used in...
The General Assembly should consider leadership term limits
Entrenched leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly creates a stranglehold on power and limits how well other legislators can serve their constituencies Other states have imposed leadership term limits through various means North Carolina should, at a minimum, impose leadership term limits by statute North Carolina’s General Assembly is unusually strong compared with the...
Make state and local governments more transparent
The General Assembly should repeal or modify a provision in the 2023 budget that exempted legislators from the state public records law. State law should be modified to make clear that local government sub-majority meetings in which public business is discussed must be open to the public. North Carolina needs a transparency amendment added to...
State Board of Elections proposes rules changes for absentee voting and voting sites
This is the second of a two-part series on proposed election rules changes. Part one covered proposed rules for recounts and voter ID. The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed a set of election rules changes. Two of the proposals address absentee voting and voting sites. This post will include summaries of...
