• Left-leaning activists filed yet another election-related lawsuit against the state, this time claiming agencies weren’t doing enough to register voters under federal law. Agencies that provide public assistance are supposed to encourage recipients to register. The lawsuit claims the state’s been lax, citing gaps in the transmission of relevant registration information from local agency offices to the elections board.
• Former GOP state Rep. Bob Brawley of Mecklenburg County made it official: He’s challenging Gov. Pat McCrory’s re-election bid. Brawley served in the General Assembly a couple of decades ago and then returned in 2013 for one term. The big issue for him is the tolling project along Interstate 77 between Charlotte and Mooresville. The governor is a major supporter; Brawley wants it ended.
• The governor has a slender lead in the final Public Policy Polling survey of the year. McCrory leads presumed Democratic front-runner Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general, 44-42 in the poll by the Democratic firm. In the race for U.S. Senate, incumbent Republican Richard Burr has a double-digit lead over Democratic rivals Deborah Ross, Chris Rey, and Kevin Griffin. (Burr’s Republican primary challengers Larry Holmquist and Paul Wright were not included in the survey.)
• Former state Sen. Julia Boseman — the first openly gay member of the General Assembly — has filed to run for New Hanover County Commission, where she previously served. The Democrat served three terms in the Senate before leaving under a cloud of controversy.
• A list of all candidates who have filed statewide is kept and updated here at the State Board of Elections’ website.
