Many of the conservative candidates running for the General Assembly this year are fond of talking about taking Raleigh back from the special interests, which might lead you to believe they support reducing the influence of big money in elections.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, one of the biggest risks posed by right-wing majorities in the House and Senate next year is a halt to North Carolina's steady progress to make elections more accessible to people without access to wealth.

The state's successful public financing programs for three Council of State offices have been passed over the objections of the conservatives and the shrieking of the right-wing think tanks that support them.

One of the groups, Americans for Prosperity, managed to derail legislation last session that would have expanded the public financing program to five more Council of State races. Their effort included distortions about how the program would be funded and the usual ridiculous rhetoric about welfare for politicians.

They ought to check with the candidates who have already taken part in public financing programs, both Democrats and Republicans, and ask them what it's like to talk to voters during a campaign instead of staying on the phone asking people for money, many times the very people that the candidate would regulate after the election.

The folks on the Right also oppose efforts to allow local governments to conduct their own public financing programs if they choose. Conservatives are all for local control until it means giving up control over something they don't like.

Only Chapel Hill has been authorized to set up a public financing option and used it in the last local election and at last report democracy is still standing.

Conservatives when pressed say we don't need to change the way campaigns are financed, though most do support removing all limits on individual and corporate contributions. They say transparency will solve all the problems, just let the public know who is financing the campaigns and voters can make up their own minds about what it means.

Or at least they used to be for transparency. The Citizen's United case that unleashed direct corporate contributions into the political process to the delight of the folks on the Right also made it possible for donors to give without their names being released.

Legislation to require disclosure was defeated by the same conservatives that used to preach disclosure and the right-think tanks have remained largely silent. One prominent North Carolina right-wing think tanker said there is an argument for disclosure and there's an argument for confidentiality.

It seems certain that a right-wing led General Assembly will not do anything to disturb the flow of anonymous big money into campaigns after being elected partially because of it. And say goodbye to any meaningful expansion of public financing too.

Most elections will remain for sale and we may not even know who's buying them. The battle will be to maintain the public financing options that currently exist for the three Council of State offices and appellate level judicial races.

And it's not just the way campaigns are financed that's at stake next Tuesday, it's who even gets to vote. Voter ID laws are on many conservative candidates' agendas too, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in North Carolina.

People are already required to have an ID when they register. Requiring it at the voting booth would decrease voter participation—and that's the point.

Conservatives have fought every effort to increase voter turnout from motor voter registration to same day registration and voting.

What exactly are they afraid of, that more people will vote?

It's no time to turn back the clock on the progress North Carolina has made in opening up some elections to people without millions of dollars of their own money or a message that pleases the wealthy special interests.

And it's certainly not time to make it more difficult to participate in the political process by putting up roadblocks to vote.

But that might be what's coming next year.