![]() citizens, so they can then be removed from voter rolls. The omnibus measure also prohibits officials from accepting private money to administer elections and directs state courts to inform elections officials about potential jurors being disqualified because they aren't U.S. on the date of the election in order to count. Republicans were unhappy with Brinson Bell - hired by the Democratic-majority in 2019 - for her role in a legal settlement that extended in 2020 the time for mailed-in ballot envelopes postmarked by the election date to be received and counted from three days after the election to nine days.Īn omnibus voting law also enacted Tuesday in part would eliminate that three-day window and instead require mailed-in ballots be received by county election offices by the time in-person balloting ends at 7:30 p.m. ![]() If the board can't decide, the decision would fall to Republican Senate leader Phil Berger. The law says the new state board also would have barely a week to decide whether to keep current state elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell on the job or hire someone else. 1, the board will be eight members, chosen by legislative leaders from both major parties and likely creating a 4-4 split among Democrats and Republicans.Ĭritics say these changes will lead to board impasses that will scale back the number of local early in-person voting sites and could send the outcomes of contested elections to the courts or the General Assembly to settle. The state elections board has been five members, with the governor's party historically holding three of the seats. North Carolina GOP legislators advancing the bills have not focused on Trump's grievances, but rather arguments that the legislation will promote bipartisan consensus in election administration and improve the public's confidence in election results.īut Cooper and his allies contend the election legislation is an attack on voting that will give Republicans the upper hand on close results. While Trump won North Carolina's electoral votes in both 20, Democrats see the state as a pickup opportunity for President Joe Biden in 2024. The electoral changes are among a wave of GOP election laws and administrative overhauls that have occurred while former President Donald Trump, who seeks a return to the White House, has repeatedly made false claims that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud. These laws - years in the making after previous Cooper's vetoes or lawsuits blocked legislation with similar provisions - advanced this year thanks to Republican seat gains in 2022 elections and an April party switch by a House Democrat to the Republican Party. One law would eliminate the governor's power to appoint the State Board of Elections and give it to legislative leaders, while the other would end a three-day grace period to receive and count absentee ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. In a series of votes, the narrow GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate overturned five Cooper vetoes, two of which address elections and voting in the ninth-largest state - a likely presidential battleground where statewide races usually are very close. Lawsuits attempting to block the new laws are likely as the 2024 elections approach. North Carolina Republicans enacted vote-count restrictions and weakened the governor's ability to oversee elections and other state regulatory bodies on Tuesday by overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper listens as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein speaks at a rally Tuesday at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C.
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