Posted on Sep 2, 2023
Voting in North Carolina faces some big changes with a Republican-backed bill
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https://www.npr.org/2023/09/02/ [login to see] /north-carolina-voting-legislation
Major changes are likely coming to North Carolina's voting rules.
The General Assembly's narrow Republican supermajority is poised to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of an elections bill.
GOP lawmakers say the measure will strengthen election integrity in the state, but in his veto message last week, Cooper said the legislation "has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with Republicans keeping and gaining power." The governor warned the bill would "erect new barriers for younger and non-white voters" and "encourages voter intimidation at the polls by election deniers and conspiracy believers."
Major changes are likely coming to North Carolina's voting rules.
The General Assembly's narrow Republican supermajority is poised to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of an elections bill.
GOP lawmakers say the measure will strengthen election integrity in the state, but in his veto message last week, Cooper said the legislation "has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with Republicans keeping and gaining power." The governor warned the bill would "erect new barriers for younger and non-white voters" and "encourages voter intimidation at the polls by election deniers and conspiracy believers."
Voting in North Carolina faces some big changes with a Republican-backed bill
Posted from npr.org
Voting
Elections
Republicans
Posted 9 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."GOP lawmakers say the measure will strengthen election integrity in the state, but in his veto message last week, Cooper said the legislation "has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with Republicans keeping and gaining power." The governor warned the bill would "erect new barriers for younger and non-white voters" and "encourages voter intimidation at the polls by election deniers and conspiracy believers."
Perhaps the most significant change in the proposal is the elimination of a three-day grace period for counting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day. The bill would also expand access for partisan poll watchers.
Public confidence was "greatly undermined" in 2020, a GOP lawmaker says
The mail ballot grace period has been in place since it gained unanimous bipartisan approval from state legislators back in 2009. But Republican lawmakers set their sights on its elimination amid partisan rancor in 2020.
That year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, voting rights advocates, led by prominent Democratic-aligned election attorney Marc Elias, had sued the state elections board to extend the grace period for mail ballots and to ease rules around the absentee-by-mail witness requirement. The State Board of Elections and Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat and now a 2024 gubernatorial candidate, settled the lawsuit. Consequently, the grace period for mail-in ballots was extended by six days.
The settlement infuriated GOP lawmakers, who accused Stein and the elections board of colluding with Elias and the national Democratic Party to circumvent the legislature's authority. Their lingering anger was clear in statements made during floor debates over this year's elections bill, which Republicans say will boost public confidence in Election Day results.
"This confidence was greatly undermined during the 2020 election when our attorney general and director of the Board of Elections, Ms. [Karen] Brinson Bell, entered into a collusive settlement that subverted state law to extend the absentee ballot deadline from three days after the election to nine days after Election Day," state Sen. Warren Daniel, one of the three Republican co-chairs of the Redistricting and Elections Committee, claimed in June."...
..."GOP lawmakers say the measure will strengthen election integrity in the state, but in his veto message last week, Cooper said the legislation "has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with Republicans keeping and gaining power." The governor warned the bill would "erect new barriers for younger and non-white voters" and "encourages voter intimidation at the polls by election deniers and conspiracy believers."
Perhaps the most significant change in the proposal is the elimination of a three-day grace period for counting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day. The bill would also expand access for partisan poll watchers.
Public confidence was "greatly undermined" in 2020, a GOP lawmaker says
The mail ballot grace period has been in place since it gained unanimous bipartisan approval from state legislators back in 2009. But Republican lawmakers set their sights on its elimination amid partisan rancor in 2020.
That year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, voting rights advocates, led by prominent Democratic-aligned election attorney Marc Elias, had sued the state elections board to extend the grace period for mail ballots and to ease rules around the absentee-by-mail witness requirement. The State Board of Elections and Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat and now a 2024 gubernatorial candidate, settled the lawsuit. Consequently, the grace period for mail-in ballots was extended by six days.
The settlement infuriated GOP lawmakers, who accused Stein and the elections board of colluding with Elias and the national Democratic Party to circumvent the legislature's authority. Their lingering anger was clear in statements made during floor debates over this year's elections bill, which Republicans say will boost public confidence in Election Day results.
"This confidence was greatly undermined during the 2020 election when our attorney general and director of the Board of Elections, Ms. [Karen] Brinson Bell, entered into a collusive settlement that subverted state law to extend the absentee ballot deadline from three days after the election to nine days after Election Day," state Sen. Warren Daniel, one of the three Republican co-chairs of the Redistricting and Elections Committee, claimed in June."...
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