I'll explain.
According to the North Carolina School of Government:
"To be eligible to hold an elective office in North Carolina—county commissioner, city council member, school board member, any other elective office—you must be eligible to vote for that office. More precisely, the state’s Constitution (Article VI, Sec. 8 ) provides that you are disqualified for office if you are “not qualified to vote in an election for that office.” To be qualified to vote for an office, you must reside in the appropriate jurisdiction—the county or city or other electoral district (Article VI, Sec. 2). So, your eligibility to be elected to office or to continue in office turns on your residency for voting purposes."
Now that appears to say that Diane Moffett can serve as Mayor of Greensboro but the NC School of Government continues:
"What happens if your residency comes into question?
The meaning of “residence” for voting purposes. A unique body of law has grown up around the question of residence for voting purposes. It starts with the statutory definition (found in G.S. 163-57) that some people find a little vague. “That place shall be considered the residence of a person in which that person’s habitation is fixed, and to which, whenever that person is absent, that person has the intention of returning.” Got it? It’s not a simple formula, such as where you sleep or where you get your mail. Instead, it’s a little more fluid, boiling down to a few rules, simple to state but sometimes hard to apply.
First, everybody has one and only one residence for voting purposes. You may own and spend time at two or more houses, but only one can be your voting residence.
Second, your residence once established remains your residence until by your actions and intent you affirmatively change it to a new residence. As the state supreme court once put it, a person acquires a new residence for voting purposes when “he (1) has abandoned his prior home, (2) has a present intention to make that place his home, and (3) has no intention presently to leave that place.” Lloyd v. Babb, 296 N.C. 416, 449 (1979).
And third, your intent counts (that is, what you consider your home is very important in a determination as to what your residence is), but what you say your intent is can be overridden by what you actually do. As the state court of appeals once put it, “We have not ignored defendant’s declarations concerning his [residence]. We must point out, however, that conduct is of greater evidential value than expressions of intent.” Farnsworth v. Jones, 114 N.C. App. 182, 189 (1994)."
Now allow me to remind you that Reverend Moffett still owns that $400,000 home in Jamestown, she has never placed her Jamestown home up for sale, nor has she bought a home in Greensboro. She is in-fact living in a rented apartment on North Elm St. Does Diane Moffett intend to stay in Greensboro? If yes then why isn't her Jamestown home up for sale? Why is she claiming to be living in a dump of an apartment in Greensboro while her husband refuses to leave the plantation in Jamestown?
Now not only can Nancy Vaughan and myself challenge Reverend Moffett's residency status but any registered voter in the affected jurisdiction can challenge her:
"Challenge to voter registration. State law provides no procedure for directly challenging an elected official’s residence, so Mary must take the indirect route of disputing your voter registration. Remember that to be eligible to hold your elective office you must be eligible to vote for it. So Mary may use her statutory right to challenge your right to vote, based on your residency: “Any registered voter of the county may challenge the right of any person to register, remain registered or vote in such county.” G.S. 163-85.
If, when she files her challenge, Mary comes forward with evidence that your residence is really at the lake—perhaps Mary supplies an affidavit that she has personally observed that no lights have been turned on in the little house in five months—the board of elections then has the duty, set out in G.S. 163-86, to conduct a hearing on Mary’s challenge. The question for it to decide is your residence. Is it the lake house or the house downtown? The board can subpoena witnesses and it hears testimony under oath. Mary has the burden to substantiate her challenge with “affirmative proof.” G.S. 163-90.1. Perhaps witnesses testify about how many nights it appears that you and your wife have spent at the lake house, or maybe there is testimony about where you had your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, or the amount of the electric bills at the two houses, or the state of the furnishings of the two places, or where the family dog stays.
If the board of elections finds that Mary has not carried the burden of proving that you have changed your residence, it will dismiss the challenge. If, however, it finds that you have changed your residence, it will cancel your voter registration. G.S. 163-90.2. At that point, you are no longer eligible to vote in the county, and, as we have seen, you are no longer eligible to continue in office as a county commissioner. [Of course, either Mary or you, depending on who loses, can appeal the matter to court. G.S. 163-90.2]"
Do you understand what you are reading? Because of what Diane Moffitt has done she is not only ineligible in Greensboro but she is ineligible in Jamestown and the whole of Guilford County. She cannot legally cast a vote for herself.
Also, did you catch the part about any registered voter being able to file the suit? Men like Billionaire downtown developer Roy Carroll, developer Marty Kotis, and the rest of Greensboro's status quo elites have already invested thousands upon thousands of dollars and years into Nancy Barakat Vaughan. Do you think they are going to give up without taking Diane Moffett to court?
So many are asking what did the Board of Elections let her run for office? Simple really, it's not the job of any board of elections to determine who runs for office. The job of the Board of Elections is to ensure fair counting of the votes. It is the job of the courts to determine eligibility and as our court system is primarily reactive instead of proactive the court won't become involved until after someone files suit. Click on image to enlarge.
Spread the word: A vote for Diane Moffett is a vote for Nancy Barakat Vaughan.
Write-in Billy Jones for Mayor of Greensboro and write-in Thessa Pickett for District 2.
