A post on the Guilford County Democratic Party’s Facebook page had some local Republican leaders up in arms this week.
Among those who expressed concern were Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch, the county’s newest Republican commissioner, and Guilford County Board of Education Member Pat Tillman who has announced he is running for the District 3 seat on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.
The post (above) shows the Guilford County Democratic Party chair and others – members of the You Can Vote organization – on a day when they went into a Guilford County school to register students to vote.
Upchurch, who recently switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican after being elected in 2020 as a Democrat, said he was stunned when he saw the photo and realized what was going on.
“If this isn’t illegal, it should be!” Upchurch wrote in an email to the Rhino Times. “The Guilford County Democratic Party Chair and other Party leaders, under the guise of ‘You Can Vote’ volunteers, went to Smith High – and probably many others – to register students to vote.”
Upchurch added, “I guarantee you they didn’t register any Republicans while they were there. The school system knows damn well who these people are. This was a coordinated effort to influence students into voting for Democrats in 2022.”
He also reposted the picture and expressed his sentiments on Facebook. That post drew a lot of feedback, both positive and negative.
One woman posted in response, “I’ve volunteered with this non-partisan organization and registered people from both parties. [You Can Vote] is very clear about wanting everyone who is eligible to vote to feel empowered and have the information they need to do so. This is needlessly inflammatory and makes me think a lot less of you.”
Over the years, in Guilford County, many conservatives have been concerned about the way schools handle student registration and voting. In recent years, Guilford County Schools has begun busing students to the polls. Some conservatives have pointed out that those who are students are more likely to vote in favor of school bonds and also probably more likely to vote for Democrats.
Upchurch said that, aside from concerns of political bias, it’s unbelievable that, at a time when everyone is being kept out of schools due to COVID-19, this group is going into schools.
School Board member Tillman, a Republican who was also flabbergasted when he saw the post, made a similar point.
“I’m just blown away that we’ve said, because of Covid restrictions, no volunteers, mentors, parents, etc. are allowed in schools, but you’re a voter registration group – ‘Why come on in… We’d love to have you!’”
Tilman said he’s all for registering voters and all for Democracy, but there needs to be an effort to make sure that student voter registration efforts aren’t politically biased. He also said it concerns him that, on the local Democratic Party’s Facebook page, party officials are posting about this effort along with a bunch of congratulatory language.
“This whole thing is messy,” he said.
Tilman added that some groups bill themselves as “non-partisan,” but are actually partisan. He said the “League of Women Voters,” is an example of such a group.
He also said that he wonders if Republican-leaning groups would have been given the same access and he said he was going to look into this matter further.
Tillman said it really makes him wonder about bias in the current methodology for registering students in Guilford County Schools.
Our leaders misleading. No tutors or mentors or volunteers allowed for almost two years now but come election time…..send in the clowns……
Not surprised. Our schools are a cesspool only serving as a mandated indoctrination center nowadays. I wonder if that was the same lying woman whom I confronted after watching her target certain demographics on multiple occasions at the Food Lion on Randleman Rd in 2016? I walked right up to her and said Ma’am, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re here everytime I visit lately and oddly enough, you’ve NEVER asked me, nor anyone who looks like me if we’re registered to vote. I got the chicken neck and a blank stare, whatever that was supposed to convey… Thats the level of respect these organizations have for telling the truth.
With your attitude and tell-tale underarm bulge, does anyone EVER approach you in a public place? ANd if they did, you’d complain about being ‘assaulted’.
Careful fish There are a lot of people with bulges around here
In the Rhino Times story about felons no longer being allowed to run as Sheriff, a commenter named Rawlf Thadogg dared conservatives to post their BMI (Body Mass Index) along with their comments.
Hey Rawlf – take a look at the Democrats in this picture. I wouldn’t drive all four of them together unless I had a Super Duty Truck.
This is what’s called a reality check.
Bahahahahaaaaaa!! Even if you redact the customary covid lock down gains those are some hefty specimins of the Equus asinus right there. Some might say there’s a strong possibility of someone trying to mimic the Loxodonta africana. As I’ve grown older I’ve come to learn that calories do not discriminate, but they do require attention and discretion.
Typical republican afraid of allowing people to vote.
So was that true of you when you were a Republican?
chris you are full of pig poop.
Watch out Chris, you are starting to sound racist.
But he will declare that he can’t be racist – because he’s black!
No LPO he’s not going to sound RACIST he is a very WOKE RACIST
Nah, Chris…we’re ‘afraid of allowing’ DEAD, ILLEGAL, CHICAGO ‘VOTE EARLY & VOTE OFTEN’, voters to cheat…you know, like ya’ll did the last time around. Do look up the terms, ‘Honesty, Integrity, Conscience, Morality, Principle, Ethics, Critical Thinking’–just a few words & qualities totally lacking in the Democrat party.
Seems that that is a republican trick based on the few cases that had actual evidence in the 2020 election.
Typical Republican tired of their kids being indoctrinated, being lied to and having politics shoved downed their kids throats when they should be learning.
If you are still attending high school, you should not have the right to vote.
Amen! Shortly before his death, a very wise Tim Wilson once implied if you’re too young to understand why you need BeeGees & Barry White albums, then you don’t know spit.
You and everyone know what the Democrats are up to. They know this is going to be a Republican landslide and they will cheat and do whatever is possible, whether it is legal or not to try and keep control of Guilford County.
It is finally time for some change in Guilford County and North Carolina. We need some common sense people in elected positions to be a positive influence on our community and decisions being made with our tax dollars. Just like the Virginia victory of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin and the new Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears we will see the same in North Carolina in November 2022.
Almost every American is fed up with the out of control inflation we are experiencing, higher taxes being proposed, open border immigration, critical race theory teaching in our schools, foolish mandates for our young children in school, handling of the Chinese virus, mask mandating, green new deal climate bill, and dozens of failed plans the Democrats have tried to force down our throats. Tell me one thing the Democrats have done well since January 2021. I’ll wait for a reply.
This is not even to mention the joke his Vice President is and an embarrassment to our nation. If I hear her “cackle laugh” one more time, I think I will throw up! Exactly who is running this country? Biden belongs in a Memory Care Unit. Clearly, he has dementia and someone else is telling him what to say. It all starts at the top and we do not have a competent leader in Washington and likewise, we do not have competent leaders in our City and County.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he cannot support the president’s signature social welfare and climate bill due to concerns it will worsen inflation was the best decision ever made to slow down this nation from a train wreck.
Biden’s approval rating has sunk to a new low as the year ends. What does that tell you? His far-left radical agenda is not for our great country and the far-left Democrats in Guilford County need to be dismissed.
Finally, who allowed this ‘You Can Vote’ group in our schools? Have them arrested for trespassing!
It’s time for a change in Guilford County and America!
Once a Democrat, but will never be again! I have seen the Truth!
All of a sudden the republicans want to follow covid guidelines…EVERY ONE needs to be automatically registered when they become of voting age.
The voting age should be 21 the same as the drinking age. You can be in the military at 18 be taught to use weapons of war but you can’t legally drink until 21 but kids in school who most know nothing about political policy except what their parents or social media tell them should be at least 21 to vote
If you want your kids to kill children and women for you and risk their lives at 18 without giving them the vote, you are nothing more than an exploiter of the young. 18 is universal suffrage almost everywhere. Some countries vote at 16. Maybe you want the extra 3 years to indoctrinate kids into voting against their own self-interest and perpetuate the student debt and school-to-prison pipeline your party embraces?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_age
Student debt is a choice not a requirement to live prison is a choice get a job go to work don’t break the law problem solved It’s called free will
Why? This is a free country. Some people may choose not to vote. Some people may not want the state to be aware of their political beliefs. Some people just do not trust their “public servants” with anything.
They have every right to remain free and unregistered.
Democrats do not have to follow their own rules. Everyone as well as you know why they were given a special pass to enter these holy halls of left leaning learning.
Voting is a constitutional right. However, there should never be an “automatic registration” program. If a person is too lazy to go register, then they do not have the right to vote. It is a simply process. However, the leftist agenda is everything is free to those who have the least, sit on their rears and accept all the handouts. What ever happened to our country’s concept of work ethic. If anyone who is a healthy teenager or adult cannot find work today, it is simply because they are not looking or are satisfied with the government handouts and programs. Do these people not have some sense of personal responsibility or pride? When you cannot take the time to go register to vote, you simply illustrate that you just don’t care to be a part of the country.
It is ok to register anyone 18 or over (on election day) to VOTE. Sounds like Republicans want to know affiliation before they register someone to vote. Thank you to volunteers who donate their time to register voters and I’m sure they did not “screen” party status before they registered people. Be wonderful if we had 90% voter participation for all elections. I think NC is 38% “unaffiliated” voters.
Stan Ann you sound like chris
4 white people wearing masks in Guilford County triggers the paranoid into screaming “Apocalypse”. Us baby boomer honkies are fading into the dust of history and your panties are aquiver thinking the people your great-great-great grandaddy used to own are going to get a say in how their lives are led. World’s smallest violin playing at your sparsely attended funeral.
You are the embodiment of the self-loathing liberal. Seek psychological help.
Careful fish bait calm down you may have a heart attack or as the mob was fond of saying you may be sleeping with the fishes
First off my great great great grandfather never owned anyone and second you should be glad he’s not here you would not like him
By the way I’m not having a funeral I know where I’m going so where I’ve been is not important that’s more than you can look forward to.
Bring back the picture ID’s! If you cannot prove who you are should not have the privilege to vote. Could this not cut down on voter fraud? Was it the Republican or Democratic Party in our state that did away with voter ID?
Agreed, if you are to lazy to sign up and vote, you should not have the privilege to vote.
It was the poor poor democrats because they said having to have an ID disenfranchised black people. What can you do legally in America without an ID. You can’t bank, drive,have utilities, rent property, buy a phone, go to tech. school or college,fly on an airline or get a job of course that last one doesn’t seem important. As long as the government is paying all their bills and giving out free money. America what a great country we live in.