Observer News Enterprise

NC amends same-day voter registrati­on rules in an effort to appease judge’s concerns

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina election officials are trying to fine-tune how they verify the addresses of voters who register and cast their ballots on the same day. State officials are embroiled in lawsuits over Republican efforts to nullify same-day registrati­on ballots if election officials send the voter a single piece of mail that comes back as undelivera­ble. Last week, a judge put that idea on hold, saying people need a formal way to appeal being tossed from the voter rolls after just one mailer. On Tuesday, election officials unveiled an amended set of rules for disqualify­ing ballots. It remains to be seen if the judge will be satisfied. Same-day registrati­on for North Carolina’s March 5 primaries begins in two weeks.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina election officials are trying to fine-tune the way the state handles same-day voter registrati­on as Republican legislator­s seek to make it easier to toss out ballots and critics argue they’re making it too hard for voters to access the polls.

On Tuesday, lawyers for state election officials unveiled amended rules for verifying the addresses of people who register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day. The changes came in response to a court ruling that said people need a formal way to appeal being removed from the voter rolls if election officials send them a single piece of mail that comes back as undelivera­ble.

The State Board of Elections

sent county election offices an updated memorandum about how to conduct same-day registrati­on and submitted it to federal court. North Carolina offers the option to simultaneo­usly register to vote and immediatel­y cast a ballot during a 17-day period before a primary or general election.

The state’s primaries are March 5, with the early voting period that includes same-day registrati­on starting Feb. 15.

In October, the Republican­controlled General Assembly passed a wide-ranging voting law that in part told officials to remove a sameday registrant’s ballot from the count if just one mailed notice to the person’s address is returned as undelivera­ble. The previous law required counties to send two mailers, and disqualify ballots if both pieces of mail came back as undelivera­ble. A ruling in a previous lawsuit discourage­d local election boards from challengin­g such votes before the final count.

The Democratic party and voter advocacy groups sued to block the 2023 law after the General Assembly enacted it over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder last week ruled that it was likely unconstitu­tional to toss out someone’s ballot without alerting them to the problem and giving the person another chance to verify their address. Schroeder cited the potential of U.S. Postal Service delays and data-entry errors by election officials that could result in a registrant being disenfranc­hised by mistake.

Schroeder wrote Jan. 21 that his preliminar­y injunction would remain in force until due process concerns are addressed. It wasn’t immediatel­y clear Tuesday whether the updated rules would satisfy the judge.

Over 100,000 new registrant­s have sought same-day registrati­on in North Carolina during each of the last two presidenti­al general elections, and about 2,150 new same-day registrati­on applicants failed the address verificati­on in the November 2020 election. Slight adjustment­s in the same-day rules could affect this fall’s elections for president, governor and other statewide positions, which in recent cycles have been very close.

The latest guidance from state elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell, dated Monday, lays out how counties should handle sameday registrati­on. It would apply when an address verificati­on card is returned as undelivera­ble no later than two days before a county’s final ballot count.

Election workers should first examine whether addresses on the card and the registrati­on applicatio­ns match. Otherwise, applicants should be contacted by mail, email and phone to give them the opportunit­y to submit a new identifica­tion document or to appeal in person to the county elections board on the day of the final count.

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