NC State Board of Elections Proposed Changes to Voting Rules
The NC State Board of Elections has issued new rules regarding election practices. At best, these rules are unnecessary. At worst, they are a blatant attempt to block voting access and quiet the voices of North Carolina voters, particularly those from Black and brown communities.
It’s easy to speak out against any or all of these rules. Click on the links below to read sample public comments, then submit your own. Make it personal. The State Board certainly did. If you ever had an issue using your ID to vote or a fond memory of attending a Souls to the Polls or Party to the Polls event, let them know. Leadership needs to hear from North Carolinians of all walks of life about how these “rules,” however innocuous they may seem, will have real consequences. And we won’t stand for them.
Public comment periods for the voter ID exception form and voting site rule are open May 15th through July 14th. The state board is required by law to consider public comments, so every comment counts.
Amplified Sound at Polls – aka “Party at the polls” would update rules around buffer zones, electioneering, and conduct at sites, targeting “amplified sound” near polling locations. State leaders have said plainly that this rule is targeted at programs like Souls to the Polls, Student Marches, and Parties at the Polls, events that have historically brought thousands of voters to the ballot box. Given these events are often attended by young voters and those in the Black community, this attack on free speech – as well as community itself – feels particularly targeted and disheartening.
Submit your comment on “Party at the Polls” HERE.
Voter ID exception form. These rules would change how voter ID exception form ballots can be discarded, lowering the threshold from a unanimous vote to a simple majority. With all 100 county boards currently under single-party control, this is a direct threat to ballot access for thousands of North Carolinians.
Submit your comment on changes to voter ID HERE.
Absentee Ballot Rules. These new rules put additional hurdles in front of voters who cast an absentee-by-mail ballot but whose ballots suffer from certain irregularities. For example, the board would flag voters who did not put their completed absentee ballot in the specified ballot envelope (but did place the ballot within the larger sealed outer return envelope) or voters where members of the same household returned ballots in one another’s envelopes. The current rules let the county board of elections use its common sense to weigh the facts in favor of counting the ballot. But the new rules would upend this by requiring the voter to cure the irregularity through written attestation, which is an unnecessary extra step that will likely lead to ballots being tossed.
Submit your comment on changes to Absentee Ballot Rules HERE.