MEDIA RELEASE: New factsheet series from the NC Justice Center tells voters, “Don’t be fooled by election year rhetoric”

RALEIGH (April 1, 2016) — This April Fool’s Day, a new series of candidate factsheets tells voters: Don’t be fooled by election year rhetoric – get the facts and ask the right questions.

The “Your Voice, Your Vote” series is produced each election year by the NC Justice Center to ensure that voters have the information they need to make an informed decision at the ballot box. The factsheets examine the real challenges facing North Carolina and how best to ask 2016 candidates in our state on what they intend to do about these crucial issues.

The series, which will be updated regularly over the upcoming months with new factsheets, covers facts and questions on issues ranging from the unemployment insurance system to common sense responses to immigration:

• On unemployment: How will you reduce the harm that is being done to jobless workers with cuts made to unemployment insurance in 2013? Are you concerned about the announced layoffs in Eden, NC, and Salisbury, NC, and how would you make sure that unemployment insurance is an effective part of the response to that job loss?
• On adequate funding for education: Will you work to ensure that North Carolina rises out of the bottom in the rankings of per pupil spending and reach the national average in teacher pay? How will you ensure taxpayer money is not taken by a voucher program with no accountability and instead placed in the traditional public schools?
• On paid leave: Do you support allowing workers to earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to five days total paid time off?
• On state tax revenue: What will you do to ensure that North Carolina’s state tax system is able to adequately support critical services that strengthen our economy and the quality of life in our community? Will you reinstate the Earned Income Tax Credit, a proven tool for addressing the upside down nature of the state tax system and one that helps working families make ends meet?
• On common sense responses to immigration: Will you denounce threatening and demeaning statements made about immigrant and refugee communities? Do you support in-state tuition to all qualified North Carolina high school graduates, regardless of immigration status?
• On economic hardship: How will you address the immediate challenges that face North Carolinians who struggle to afford the basics? How will you ensure that economic hardship does not grow and remain resistant to the economic recovery?

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Julia Hawes, julia@ncjustice.org, 919.863.2406.