Prep for High NC Absentee Ballot Demand Gets Senate OK

Changes to mail-in absentee ballot rules in North Carolina to help operate a fall election during the coronavirus pandemic received tentative approval on Wednesday from the state Senate.

The measure, a version of which cleared the House by a wide margin two weeks ago, responds to the expected spike in demand for absentee ballots from people at higher risk for developing complications from COVID-19. Local and state election officials also are worried about a dwindling supply of workers willing to work in-person voting centers and precincts.

The House debate emphasized the bipartisan nature of the bill’s provisions and led to overwhelming support for the measure. But 12 of the 20 Senate Democrats on the chamber floor voted Wednesday against the Senate version, which still passed comfortably.

Some senators tried to run amendments for election changes lobbied for by civil rights and election reform groups, warning that long voting lines at primary elections in Georgia this week could otherwise happen in North Carolina in November. But Senate Republicans used parliamentary maneuvers to block votes on the amendments. A final Senate vote will come Thursday.

Both House and Senate versions of the measure expand the options for registered voters to receive an absentee ballot request form. An online portal for voters to submit completed requests would be developed. And this fall, only one witness would be needed to sign the envelope containing a filled-out ballot, not two.

More than $27 million also would be distributed to the state and county election boards for items like equipment and security upgrades, as well as to recruit poll workers. Money also would be used to stock voting sites with personal protective equipment.

Some Democrats were perturbed by a provision in both versions that would add public assistance identification cards to the list of qualifying photo IDs that election officials can accept for voting. A photo voter identification mandate was added to the state constitution in a 2018 referendum, but its implementation has been blocked by courts and likely won’t be required in 2020.

Senate Democrats opposed to any kind of photo ID — calling it a tool for voter suppression — said the addition of the public assistance card qualification was unnecessary in the measure.

“You put in the ugliest language that messed up what could have been a decent bill,” said Sen. Gladys Robinson, a Guilford County Democrat.

Sen. Warren Daniel, a Burke County Repubilcan shepherding the bill, was incredulous about opposition based on the ID provision. A federal judge cited the lack of a public assistance ID as a qualifying voter identification in her ruling to halt enforcement of the mandate.

“I’m not really sure what to think,” Daniel said during the debate.

The State Board of Elections supports the idea of expanding qualifying IDs to include assistance cards should enforcement of the voter ID mandate occur again, spokesman Pat Gannon said late Wednesday.

Any final bill would go to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who said recently he likes legislation that makes it easier to use absentee ballots.