TALKING POINTS UPDATE: Monday, August 24, 2020

As Republicans Expand Ballot Access to Historic Highs, North Carolina the First State to Vote

Landmark Healthcare Reforms Benefit North Carolina Patients Under Republican Policy

General Assembly’s Small Business and Broadband Relief Programs Benefit North Carolinians

New School of Science and Math is One More Republican Education Accomplishment

 

North Carolina is the first state to start voting, as Republican lawmakers expand ballot access to historic highs.
 
  • Some states require justification to vote absentee, but North Carolina allows any voter to request a ballot for any reason, via email, fax, mail, or online.
 
  • Republicans also nearly doubled the number of early voting hours available last decade, as our 17 days of early voting are more than most states.
 
  • North Carolina’s voter ID law that was blocked by activist liberal courts is not even a “strict” requirement – voters can still cast a ballot without an ID.
 
  • Republicans significantly expanded weekend early voting in North Carolina and implemented uniform voting hours to help citizens access the ballot.
 
  • Funding in the Bipartisan Elections Act of 2020 empowered local boards with resources to conduct in-person voting safely.
 
Not straddled by Democratic debt, North Carolina lends a hand to small businesses, invests even more in broadband.
 
  • Free from billions of dollars in debt incurred by Democratic leadership in the last economic crisis and other states, N.C. Republicans invest in recovery.
 
  • Small business lending programs and broadband connectivity funds are just two of the legislature’s significant initiatives helping North Carolina recover.
 
 
  • These funds likely would not be available in crisis if North Carolina followed the overspending path preferred by Democrats and their allied media.
 
Historic healthcare reforms passed by the Republican legislature benefit patients and providers in North Carolina.
 
  • A landmark prescription drug “step therapy” reform empowered patients to make decisions with their doctors without waiting: S.B. 361 Healthy NC.
 
  • S.B. 86 Small Business Healthcare Act allows affordable association health plans, expanding private coverage instead of government programs.
 
  • Republican Medicaid transformation increases the quality of care for the 2 million North Carolinians on the program, or 1-in-5 residents of the state.
 
  • Republican Medicaid transformation is better than expansion. It improves care for vulnerable patients without crowding them out of critical services.
 
  • Republicans fixed the finances of a broken Medicaid program, then heavily reinvested in its transformation and services for those most vulnerable.
 
The N.C. School of Science and Math is a powerful example of Republican education initiatives benefiting students.
 
  • Republicans have a strong record of education investments in N.C., Democrats have a record of blocking education funds for other priorities.
 
  • The opening of the new School of Science and Math campus was delayed for a year by Democrats but is back on track with Republican funding.
 
  • Republicans’ ConnectNC education bond passed in Speaker Moore’s first term in 2016 funded the first $58 million for NCSSM Morganton.
 
  • ConnectNC is also finishing brand new stem facilities on campuses across the UNC system, one more historic Republican education accomplishment.
 
  • Republicans approved nearly $2 billion more for capital investments in N.C. education campuses in 2019, but the funds were blocked by Democrats.
  • More Republican education accomplishments include teacher pay raises, education choice for families, school safety investments, funding AP test fees, scholarships for low-income students, and much, much more.
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