Judge lets North Carolina keep strict mail ballot rules as rejections mount

A federal judge ruled on Monday that North Carolina may keep its strict mail-in ballot rules in place for November's election, The Hill reported. Judge Thomas D. Shroeder wrote that it was too close to the election to change the rules again and that plaintiffs waited too long to file their motion. He wrote: "The Supreme Court has repeatedly admonished lower courts that they 'should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election.'" He added: "Here, '[t]he election is not merely upcoming; it has already started.'" [ 1 ]

The state board of elections changed the rules just before ballots were mailed in September, according to The Hill. They disqualify ballots where the signature does not match the name on the voter's application, and direct county election officials not to count votes if the inner envelope is not properly sealed. The Boston Globe reported that elections officials began mailing ballots on Sept. 4, before the Nov. 3 midterms, and that the board sent a memo to county election directors the same day. Among the changes was a mandate to treat an unsealed inner envelope as a "deficiency" requiring a ballot to be rejected. Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, told The Hill the changes were "a slap in the face to voters" and said the decision circumvented state law. [ 1 , 3 ]

County election officials have rejected ballots for issues such as an unsealed inner envelope, according to The New York Times, which said voting rights groups are urging voters to fix their ballots or vote in other ways. The Boston Globe reported that left-leaning voting rights groups warned this week that thousands of ballots could be rejected and urged voters to check the status of their mail ballot or vote in person. [ 2 , 3 ]

Two groups, Common Cause North Carolina and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, tracked data from 27 of the state's 100 counties. They found a higher rejection rate than in past elections, mostly because of unsealed inner envelopes. They put the rate at about 3% statewide, and said it was two or three times as high in some larger counties. [ 3 ]

The inner envelope was added to mail ballots in 2023 to comply with a voter ID requirement, the Boston Globe reported. Voters put the ballot in an inner envelope and include a copy of their qualifying ID in a sleeve outside it, and the inner envelope then goes into a separate envelope for mailing. Hilary Harris Klein, senior counsel for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice's voting rights program, said county offices in previous elections accepted ballots with unsealed inner envelopes as long as the outer envelope was sealed. She said that changed after the September memo. [ 3 ]

The Hill noted that North Carolina has widely watched congressional races, including an open U.S. Senate seat. It said Decision Desk HQ, a partner of The Hill, gives Democrat and former Gov. Roy Cooper an 84 percent chance of defeating Republican Michael Whatley. The Boston Globe described the state as known for razor-thin election margins and said the Senate race could help determine control of the chamber. The Hill also reported that Trump has repeatedly claimed mail-in voting is fraudulent and tried to change mail-in voting rules by executive order earlier this year, but the Supreme Court ruled the changes could not take effect for the midterms. [ 1 , 3 ]