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Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Wednesday urged officials to delay the adoption of new election rules that would set new conditions on mail-in ballots and make it easier to throw out ballots cast by voters who don’t provide photo ID.
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“Our state’s elections administrators should seek to make it easier — not harder — for eligible North Carolinians to lawfully make their voice heard at the ballot box and have confidence their vote will be respected,” Stein wrote in a letter shared with The News & Observer. “Unfortunately, the … proposed rules undercut those core democratic principles, and implementing such changes so close to an election invites confusion and undermines faith in our democratic process.”
The proposed rules, which passed the Republican-majority State Board of Elections in party-line votes last month, are set to be heard by the state’s Rules Review Commission on Thursday.
The commission is the last step for any rule proposed by a state agency. It’s where rules are reviewed by a group of 10 commissioners appointed by legislative leaders. Stein’s letter asks the commission to delay approval of the new election rules and seek review from the state legislature.
According to state law, if the commission receives at least 10 written objections to a rule, it must be delayed until it can be reviewed by the legislature. According to meeting materials posted online, the commission has already received more than 10 letters seeking legislative review for many of the proposed rules.
Lawmakers do not plan to convene until after the November elections.
Stein specifically objected to two rules, one of which deals with the state’s voter ID requirement and the other of which amends the requirements for mail-in ballots.
The new voter ID rule would allow county election officials to disqualify ballots by a majority vote if they don’t believe a voter’s reason for failing to provide identification. Currently, this requires a unanimous vote of a county elections board, all of which are composed of three Republicans and two Democrats.
“Making the rejection of voters’ ballots a partisan decision will undermine voters’ trust that their ballot will be counted,” Stein wrote.
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The rule would require the board to issue a written decision “based only on facts and not speculation” explaining its reasoning. The board would also be required to give the affected voter notice and an opportunity to address the board and defend their ballot.
The second proposed rule would set new standards for how to handle mail-in ballots returned with procedural errors.
Some deficiencies, like signing a ballot in the wrong place, would be considered “curable,” meaning a voter could fix the issue and have their ballot counted. Other issues, like an unsealed or opened ballot envelope, would be deemed “non-curable” and result in the disqualification of the ballot — though the voter would still be able to cast a new, corrected absentee ballot or vote in-person.
Stein said the rule “makes casting an absentee ballot more complicated and burdensome and increases the likelihood that more voters casting absentee ballots will see their votes thrown out.”
It comes as the U.S. Supreme Court recently sided with the Trump administration by allowing an executive order restricting mail-in voting to take effect. With little time left until the midterms, though, it’s unclear whether the order can actually be implemented.
The state is scheduled to begin sending out mail-in ballots on Sept. 4 to military and overseas voters.
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