Current:Home > StocksNorth Carolina Republicans finalize passage of an elections bill that could withstand a veto -ProfitPoint
North Carolina Republicans finalize passage of an elections bill that could withstand a veto
View
Date:2025-04-16 06:31:37
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature finalized late Wednesday a far-reaching elections bill that would end a grace period for counting mailed absentee ballots, toughen same-day registration rules and empower partisan observers at polling places.
The House voted 69-47 for changes it made to a measure that the Senate passed in June, followed quickly by senators agreeing to those alterations by a similar party-line vote of 27-18.
GOP supporters and their allies argue the changes are needed to streamline election activities in a growing state and to restore the people’s confidence and trust in voting and the results. The first election that most changes would affect is a primary next March.
“The aim of the bill is to improve elections,” Rep. Grey Mills, an Iredell County Republican shepherding the measure, told House colleagues earlier Wednesday. “All of it aims to make our processes on Election Day, during early voting, mail-in ballots ... more efficient and to make it more user-friendly.”
But Democrats and voter advocacy groups contend many provisions would actually suppress voting and increase the risk for intimidation within voting places in a state with a history of racial discrimination.
“I fear that this bill will make it harder to vote,” Rep. Allan Buansi, an Orange County Democrat, said during House floor debate. “We have an election system that has stood the test of time, and this bill unfortunately threatens that.”
The bill now goes to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has previously successfully vetoed three provisions contained again within the 40-plus page bill — including the absentee ballot deadline change. In a statement before Wednesday’s votes, he lamented efforts by lawmakers to pass legislation that “hurts the freedom to vote.”
With Republicans this year holding narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers, another Cooper veto would likely be overridden.
The nation’s ninth-largest state is considered a presidential battleground, and the 2024 race for governor is expected to be highly competitive. The state’s 7.3 million voters already must learn the rules for showing photo voter identification starting with this fall’s municipal elections after the state Supreme Court upheld a 2018 law in April.
The omnibus measure would again attempt to require that traditional absentee ballots be received by county election offices by the time in-person balloting ends at 7:30 p.m. on the date of the election. Current law allows up to three days after the election for a mailed-in ballot envelope to be received if it’s postmarked by the election date.
Critics of the change say the end of the grace period leaves last-minute voters at the mercy of the U.S. Postal Service, and will disenfranchise them.
But Republicans argue that all voters should follow the same deadline regardless of voting preference and that state election officials would communicate with the public about the deadline change. A majority of states require that absentee ballots arrive on or before the election date.
Another previously vetoed provision in the bill would direct state courts to send information to election officials about potential jurors being disqualified because they aren’t U.S. citizens. Those people could then be removed from voter rolls.
Also previously vetoed — and reincluded in the latest version of the bill — is language barring election boards and county officials from accepting private money to administer elections. A House amendment — the only one of 17 offered by Democrats on Wednesday that passed the chamber — would provide an exception for county boards to accept in-kind-contributions for writing pens or for food and drink for precinct workers.
The provision toughening same-day registration rules is in response to concerns by Republicans that some people who both register to vote and cast ballots late in the 17-day early-voting period are having their votes counted although election officials later determine they aren’t qualified.
The new language says a same-day registrant’s ballot won’t count if their mailed voter registration card is returned to county election officials as undeliverable by the day before a county’s final ballot count. Current law requires two undeliverable mailings.
The latest version of the bill also more clearly spells out what poll observers who are chosen by political parties can and can’t do.
For example, an observer could take notes in the voting place, and listen to a conversation between a voter and an election official as long as it’s about election administration. But the person couldn’t take a picture of a marked ballot or impede a voter from entering or leaving the voting place. Mills said the bill language still gives precinct judges control over voting places.
veryGood! (542)
Related
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- 'Zoey 101' star Matthew Underwood says he quit acting after agent sexually assaulted him
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs returns to Instagram following home raids, lawsuits
- 'Completely traumatized': Angie Harmon says Instacart driver shot and killed her dog
- FACT FOCUS: Inspector general’s Jan. 6 report misrepresented as proof of FBI setup
- Get 2 Benefit Cosmetics Liquid Eyeliners for the Price of 1, 62% off Free People Dresses, and More Deals
- Ohio law banning nearly all abortions now invalid after referendum, attorney general says
- Watch: Pieces of Francis Scott Key Bridge removed from Baltimore port after collapse
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Christians in Jerusalem cautiously celebrate Easter amid Israel-Hamas war
Ranking
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- Freight railroads must keep 2-person crews, according to new federal rule
- Why WWII and Holocaust dramas like 'We Were the Lucky Ones' are more important than ever
- LSU's Angel Reese tearfully addresses critics postgame: 'I've been attacked so many times'
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- Wisconsin voters are deciding whether to ban private money support for elections
- Orlando city commissioner charged, accused of using 96-year-old's money on personal expenses
- Tori Spelling Says She’s “Never Felt More Alone” After Filing for Divorce From Dean McDermott
Recommendation
Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
Motorists creep along 1 lane after part of California’s iconic Highway 1 collapses
Looking for the best places to see the April 8 solar eclipse in the totality path? You may have to dodge clouds.
Judges, witnesses, prosecutors increasingly warn of threats to democracy in 2024 elections as Jan. 6 prosecutions continue
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
Texas Energy Companies Are Betting Hydrogen Can Become a Cleaner Fuel for Transportation
Medicaid expansion coverage enrollment in North Carolina now above 400,000
Who survived and who was eliminated in the 'biggest cut' in 'American Idol' history?