Voting: Latest NC Updates

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See the lists of important voting access bills on the second half of this page.

The Griffin Suit

APPRIL 22: On Tuesday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit temporarily blocked the ballot verification process that had been ordered by the State Supreme Court. From the New York Times. The complete article on the history of the case is here.

APRIL 15: NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) reduced the number of questionable ballots to 1409 for military and overseas ballots from Guilford County and 266 for registered voters who allegedly never lived in NC. This is down from 5000+ ballots that were still being questioned. The reason for this, according to the NCSBE, is that the handful of other counties were added to the Griffin lawsuit after the deadline for being included.

To cure these ballots, the board intends to have the Guilford County Board of Elections review documentation submitted with these ballots to confirm that the voters didn’t include ID. If the county finds that the voters did submit ID, or an exception form, their votes will not be challenged.

The NCSBE also has a plan to reach out to the 266 voters and give them a chance to confirm their residence status before their ballots are disqualified.

Griffin may continue to challenge the validity of these actions by the NCSBE

Information taken from an article in The Democracy Docket and The Carolina Journal.

APRIL 14 THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF NORTH CAROLINA (LWVCV) FILED a complaint and an emergency restraining order in reaction to the NC Supreme Court’s decision three days earlier. This moves the legal proceedings away from the state judicial system and into the federal system.

The objection is that the ballots cast under the rules in place during the 2024 general election should be counted. A major thrust of the filing is that the targeted military and oversees voters in the NC Supreme Court decision are from the state’s 4 urban counties; the ballots from the state’s other 96 counties are not being challenged. For more details and to see others involved in this legal action check here.

APRIL 11 THE NORTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT RULED ON GRIFFIN SUIT:

1. It declared that some 60,000 early voted ballots are acceptable since “voter mistakes were not their own.”

2. Certain military and overseas absentee ballots must have a photo ID in order to be valid. These voters will have 30 days after the “mailing of notice” to provide the photo ID in order for last November’s ballots to count.

3. For “never residents,” those several hundred people who voted absentee but who have never lived in North Carolina but are connected to the state through their parents, the NC Supreme Courts said those citizens should not have been allowed to vote.

The above summary is from a NC Newsline story from April 11. The NC Board of Elections statement is here.

BACKGROUND: The lawsuit was brought by Jefferson Griffin a November candidate for the NC Supreme Court. He lost the race. After two recounts he still lost by 734 votes to Allison Riggs.

There were some 65,000 names of people who voted in the North Carolina November 2024 Election whose votes were challenged in Griffin’s lawsuit because of incomplete voter registration associated their Voter ID.  

APRIL 4 The NC Court of Appeals ruled that some 65,000 NC voters will have two weeks to correct their missing voter information or their November ballots would not be counted as a result of the Jefferson Griffin suit. On April 7 the NC Supreme Court issued a stay (or hold) on this decision.

CONCERN: This case sets a dangerous precedent, allowing legal and eligible votes to be tossed out based on new rules created months after the election concluded–when voters followed all of the rules in place on Election Day–and on technicalities or perceived errors in the process that were outside voters’ control.

This is the only November election in the country that is still unsettled.

The NC State Board of Elections offers this updated page of information for affected voters.

Current LWVNC Alerts

Members of Congress are on recess and potentially in their home state on these dates April 12–27, and May 27–June 1. 

Links to more info are in red for the topics below.

NC House Bill 127 would prevent groups or organizations from helping citizens register to vote, working with high schools to register or pre-register young voters, making sure that college students are registered at their correct address and assisting formerly incarcerated voters.

NC House Bill 66 seeks to cut early voting days from 17 to 6. LWVNC President Jennifer Rubin speaks out on what impact this will have.

NC House Bill 31 would make election day a state holiday in NC.

There are other bills regarding voting rights, redistricting and related issues and women’s rights and related issues. The list can be seen in the LWV North Carolina newsletter.

NC Board of Elections (NCSBE) opens public comment sessions for rules changes now through April 21. Changes would affect election observers, election protests and recounts. To comment, the email address for the NCSBE public information officer is included.

FUTURE OF NC ELECTIONS IS A SUCCESS

This report was released on February 4 by the NC Network for Fair, Safe, & Secure Elections. This is a bipartisan group co-led by former Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts (D) and retired NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr (R) and supported by the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Following fourteen months of investigation, research, and deliberation by committee, the Commission on the Future of North Carolina Elections released its final report at a meeting at Catawba College on February 4th. The report offers an in-depth, cross-partisan analysis of the state’s election processes and administration, marking a major step in evaluating and strengthening North Carolina’s election system.

The Commission, supported by Catawba College’s Center for N.C. Politics & Public Service, and a grant from Interfaith America, produced a nearly 200-page report examining eleven key areas of the state’s election system – from voter registration to election challenges & protests.  The Commission found that:

1. Our election system is well-administered and secure.

2. The state employs strong safeguards, including a requirement that every ballot has a paper backup, and strict prohibitions on electronic ballot marking devices being connected to the internet.

3. Commission research determined that there has been no evidence of widespread fraud.

4. Despite this, the report finds that many voters remain unaware of these security measures, fueling skepticism about election integrity.
    
   Among the consensus findings are the following points:

• Public education is a key priority. The report highlights the impact of rampant misinformation and declining local news coverage in shaping public misperceptions of elections.

• Election offices are often underfunded, and staff turnover is high. The Commission recommended salary increases, better security measures for election workers, and broader training of student interns as election workers. 

• Unaffiliated voters are underrepresented on boards of elections and as candidates in North Carolina. The Commission recommends reconsidering restrictions on unaffiliated voters and candidates to reflect the changing voter landscape.