The North Carolina General Assembly is moving forward with HB 958: Election Law Changes, a sweeping 36-page elections bill that would significantly alter election administration across our state. It has been fast-tracked to the House Elections Committee at 10 AM and the Rules Committee at June 16 at 2:30 PM in the LB Auditorium. This bill, in its current form, is a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) of a bill that was filed last year. There have been several changes.
While the bill currently contains some provisions that could improve administrative processes, such as additional time to count and cure ballots, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina opposes HB 958 because several key provisions could create barriers for voters, increase challenges to ballots after they are cast, and undermine public confidence in our elections.
The bill may change when it reaches the Senate, however, as currently written, HB 958 would:
- Prohibit State and County Board of Elections members from publicly encouraging voter turnout, limiting the role of election officials in promoting civic participation and voter education. This may be the most astonishing item in the bill.
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Provide the State Auditor sweeping authority to audit county elections and access voting equipment, election records, DMV data, and election personnel. Because the bill grants substantial discretion over which counties are audited and how those audits are conducted, it raises concerns about selective enforcement and the potential for communities to be subjected to unequal scrutiny.
- Create a new statewide post-election audit process that uses government databases to identify voters and ballots for review after an election.
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Expand post-election voter challenges, increasing the likelihood that eligible voters could have their ballots questioned after they have already voted.
- Increase reliance on database matches and government records to trigger voter challenges and voter list maintenance actions, despite the fact that government databases can contain errors or outdated information.
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Impose additional requirements on military and overseas voters, creating new hurdles for some North Carolinians serving our country or living abroad.
- Increase the party affiliation requirement for candidates seeking to run in a party primary from 90 days to one year, creating a higher barrier for citizens who wish to seek public office.
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Ban ranked-choice voting, eliminating local flexibility to consider alternative voting systems in the future.
This version of HB 958 moves North Carolina towards a system that not only discourages voting but views voters with suspicion after they have voted, rather than helping eligible voters participate. The League believes election laws should begin with the presumption that eligible voters are acting lawfully and focus on ensuring every eligible vote counts.
Because HB 958 is being fast-tracked to the House Rules Committee tomorrow, time is of the essence. We encourage members to contact their legislators and members of the House Rules Committee immediately and urge them to oppose HB 958. (Find your legislators HERE.) Tell lawmakers that North Carolina voters deserve election laws that expand participation, protect voter rights, and maintain public confidence in our elections—not policies that increase voter challenges, discourage participation, or create new opportunities for eligible voters to be questioned after casting their ballots.
Sample Comments:
North Carolina election laws should encourage voter participation and ensure every eligible vote be counted. Instead, this bill moves in the opposite direction by expanding post-election voter challenges and creating new processes that subject voters to additional scrutiny.
This bill creates an environment in which voters are presumed ineligible to vote until proven otherwise. Election laws should begin with the presumption that voters are acting lawfully and should help voters to participate in elections, not create new reasons to question their eligibility after the fact.
