RALEIGH —North Carolina Senate Democrats filed a bill on June 7 that would essentially punish members who change political parties.
Senate Bill 748, titled the Voter Fraud Prevention Act, aims to require a special election be held to fill an elected or appointed member of the legislature changes party affiliation during the member’s term of office with more than six months remaining in the term.
The primary sponsors of the bill are Sens. Michael Garrett (D-Guilford), Natasha Marcus (D-Mecklenburg) and Sydney Batch (D-Wake).
Marcus promoted the bill by tweeting a quote she gave to reporters that read, “You can’t completely switch teams, put on the other jersey and start scoring goals for the opposite team & have no recourse whatsoever from voters. So it’s time we made this change.”
Batch also tweeted about the bill, claiming, “The Voter Fraud Protection Act is a common sense bill to protect NC voters from being swindled by politicians.”
Rep. Erin Paré (R-Wake) was quick to respond to Batch, noting that Batch obtained a Senate seat that she was “never elected to in the first place.”
“Actually, it’s no secret you spent a million+ lying to voters in 2022 (and 2020) painting yourself as a fake moderate in order to win ‘re-election’ to a seat you were never elected to in the first place,” tweeted Paré. “You are a tried and true party-line far left liberal politician who attacks independent thinkers because you have nothing constructive to offer anyone.”
Batch was appointed to her current seat after former Democratic Sen. Sam Searcy resigned a few months after winning reelection in 2020.
The proposed legislation follows longtime Democratic Rep. Tricia Cotham’s (R-Mecklenburg) change of party earlier this year.
At a press conference in April, Cotham gave a lengthy list of times she said she had been attacked by members of her former party and interest groups aligned with Democrats, including being yelled at while shopping with her son in Target, frozen out of the Democratic caucus since her election in November 2022 and messages being sent directly to her 12-year-old son on social media.
