If you read the News & Observer‘s editorial page, you might have seen the following letter this morning:

Western Carolina University Professor Roger Hartley is entitled to his opinion about the marriage amendment on this year’s North Carolina primary ballot (“The Romney factor in our amendment,” Point of View article, Jan. 19). As Hartley apparently does, John Locke Foundation President John Hood, my boss, opposes the measure.

Still, Hartley wrongly asserts that the GOP-led legislature placed the marriage amendment on the primary ballot thinking that party activists would be drawn to the polls. No, Republican supporters wanted the marriage amendment placed on the general election ballot.

In an Aug. 30, 2011, news conference, Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, said, “If you’re going to amend the North Carolina Constitution, why wouldn’t you want the highest number of people turning out to vote for it? There’s no greater amount of people that are going to vote than in a presidential election.”

So why is the amendment on the primary ballot? The handful of Democrats who supported the measure in the House urged Republicans to move the amendment vote up from November to the primary date.

Mitch Kokai
Director of Communications
John Locke Foundation
Raleigh

The record needed to be clarified since a marriage amendment opponent had based an entire guest column on the mistaken notion that Republicans had purposely scheduled the marriage amendment for the primary ballot to drive party activists to the polls on primary day.

If you had forgotten the Republicans’ preference for a marriage amendment vote in November, please watch the CarolinaJournal.tv video clip of the Aug. 30, 2011, news conference referenced in the letter.