This odd Guilford County election story has prompted a response today from Linda Daves of the N.C. Republican Party:

“This situation illustrates another shameful example of the inadequacy of election safeguards in North Carolina.  It is absolutely unconscionable that we do not have laws in place to require that candidates for elected office in North Carolina show proof of identity before they are placed on a ballot.  The current landscape of election laws call into question the integrity of the electoral process and cause voters to lose faith in the functioning of our democracy.  We cannot afford to perpetuate a system that encourages cynicism toward the voting process as that destroys confidence in government.
 
We must put in place proper safeguards to ensure that this situation never again repeats itself.  Common sense regulations requiring proper identification for candidates who wish to be on the ballot and for voters wishing to cast a ballot should be the law of the land.  Identification requirements have not been shown to disenfranchise voters, but they do restore confidence that our electoral processes are functioning correctly.  The General Assembly should take up this issue immediately.”

You might remember that Daren Bakst also has argued in favor of voter identification requirements.