NC Halts Plan to Resolve Ballot Issue With Voter Affidavits

Pending a legal review, the North Carolina State Board of Elections is suspending steps to allow voters to correct absentee ballots lacking the required witness signature by signing an affidavit.

In a memo sent to county elections officials on Thursday, the state board’s executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, ordered them to hit the brakes on the plan.

“Absentee envelopes with a missing witness signature shall be kept in a secure location and shall not be considered by the county board until further notice,” Bell wrote.

Last week’s memo had directed counties to send out affidavits to the thousands of voters who need to correct witness-related issues in order for their ballots to count. State data has shown that ballots cast by Black voters have been set aside by county boards because of incomplete witness information at a higher rate than other voters.

Before the state began encouraging the use of affidavits, local elections officials had to send out an entirely new ballot for voters to complete with all the necessary information.

A federal judge on Wednesday expressed concern that last week’s memo from the state elections board to issue affidavits instead of a new ballot would essentially upend the witness requirement.

Federal Judge William Osteen ordered a status conference to address his concerns that the affidavit directive doesn’t comply with a ruling he issued in August upholding the need for a witness.

“This court finds a status conference is necessary in light of this court’s present concern that alleged compliance with this court’s order is resulting in elimination of a duly-enacted statute requiring a witness to an absentee ballot,” Osteen wrote. The conference will be held on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a state court hearing is scheduled for Friday to decide whether the state’s affidavit guidance can go forward under the settlement reached last week between the state elections board and the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans.

The two Republican members of the five-member body who supported the settlement resigned shortly after receiving substantial pushback from GOP leadership in the state. The state’s Republican Party has accused Democrats of misleading the two members into supporting the easing of certain voting procedures.

Other provisions in the settlement include a six-day extension for officials to receive mailed absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day and an easing of the process for absentee ballots to be returned at early in-person voting sites set to open later this month.

‹

Early Vote Shows Signs of Black Voters' Shift to Mail Voting

Shirley Dixon-Mosley had never sent a ballot through the mail. She always treasured casting her ballot in person. But for November’s election, she voted early and by mail because she didn’t want to take any chances. “I want to make sure my vote got in and it counted,” said the 75-year-old retired teacher’s aide in […]

Hundreds of Ballots Accepted as North Carolina Begins Voting

Hundreds of ballots were accepted in North Carolina on Tuesday, making the Tar Heel State the first in the nation to kick off voting in the November general election. County elections officials accepted 903 of the more than 606,000 ballots sent out to voters since Friday, as of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The numbers provided by […]

N. Carolina GOP Pushes To Move Up Absentee Ballot Deadline

Written by HANNAH SCHOENBAUM North Carolina voters who turn in their absentee ballots after polls close on Election Day could see them tossed out under a bill advancing in the state House. A GOP-sponsored bill that passed 14-7 Tuesday in the House Election Law Committee would remove the state’s three-day grace period after an election […]

States Cite Smooth Election, Despite Trump’s Baseless Claims

The 2020 election unfolded smoothly across the country and without any widespread irregularities, according to state officials and election experts, a stark contrast to the baseless claims of fraud being leveled by President Donald Trump following his defeat. Election experts said the large increase in advance voting — 107 million people voting early in person […]

Presidency Hinges on Tight Races in Battleground States

The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance Wednesday morning, as President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battled for three familiar battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House. It was unclear when or how quickly a winner could […]

Biden Marks Iowa Rise From Caucus Collapse to Fall Contender

When Joe Biden was last in Iowa, his presidential campaign was on the verge of collapse and he was soundly trounced in the caucuses by a former Indiana mayor nearly 40 years his junior. He returns Friday as the Democratic nominee, believing he’s just days away from becoming president-elect. Biden’s trip reflects the remarkable arc of his third presidential […]

Orange County Absentee Ballot Requests Are 8 Times 2016's Total

After North Carolina passed its deadline for residents to request an absentee ballot by mail, Orange County’s total of such requests stood at a historic amount. As of Wednesday, Orange County’s absentee ballot request total was 34,936, more than eight times the amount of such ballots requested by the county’s registered voters in 2016. That […]

Judge: North Carolina Must Strengthen Absentee Witness Rule

A federal judge ordered North Carolina on Wednesday to ensure that absentee ballots have a witness signature in a mixed ruling that allows voters to fix other minor problems without casting a new ballot from scratch. Judge William Osteen issued an injunction requiring state officials to revise a directive issued Sept. 22 that let voters to fix […]

Judge Delays Ruling on North Carolina Absentee Ballot Procedure

A federal judge leveled sharp criticism on Wednesday against a procedure giving North Carolina voters more leeway to fix witness problems on absentee ballots, but declined to immediately rule in a tangle of election-related lawsuits. U.S. District Judge William Osteen, who’s presiding over three related cases, said he aims to issue a written ruling early […]

NC Halts Plan to Resolve Ballot Issue With Voter Affidavits

Pending a legal review, the North Carolina State Board of Elections is suspending steps to allow voters to correct absentee ballots lacking the required witness signature by signing an affidavit. In a memo sent to county elections officials on Thursday, the state board’s executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, ordered them to hit the brakes on […]

›