NCEIT Top Election Bills - For Free and Fair Elections
- May 15, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 10, 2023
NCEIT Top Election Bills- For Free & Fair Elections
H772- Poll Observer Appointments, Access and Authority. Sponsors- Rep Mills (House Election Law Committee Chair), Rep Davis (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Warren (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), and Rep Cleveland (Elections Working Group).
Status: Currently in the House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee- Awaiting Hearing.
Key Features:
1. Significantly clarifies the spirit and intent of NCGS Chapter 163-45 (Poll Observer Appointments) providing 19 specific tasks that poll observers may perform in fulfilling their duties during early voting and on election day.
2. Eliminates ambiguity currently exploited through onerous restrictions imposed on poll observers by State and Local Boards of Elections.
3. Describes eight specific restrictions for Poll Observers within the voting enclosure.
4. Clarifies seven points of due process for dismissing and replacing poll observers.
5. Allows poll observers to capture audio and photographic evidence of improper behaviors within the voting enclosure.
6. Will finally standardize Poll Observer access and authority across all 100 counties.
7. Will eliminate most of the 1200 reported incidents (during the 2022 Election Cycle) involving a misunderstanding of legislative intent among Poll Workers and Elections Staff across the state.
H770- Access to Voted Ballots. Sponsors- Rep Mills (House Election Law Committee Chair), Rep Davis (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Warren (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), and Rep Cleveland (Elections Working Group).
Status: Currently in the House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee- Awaiting Hearing.
Key Features:
1. This bill allows public access to the cast vote records (CVRs) following each election– allowing NC to join 23 other states who already permit CVR access.
2. Substantially enhances voter confidence in election outcomes because (de-identified) individual ballot records can be inspected and compared to the reported machine tallies.
3. Does not compromise the confidentiality of any voter’s selections.
4. CVRs are useful for analysis of election returns and in helping to detect potential network intrusions, Tabulator malfunctions, or Tabulator software corruption.
H728- Weekly Maintenance of Voter Registration Records. Sponsors- Rep Davis (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Warren (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), and Rep Cleveland (Elections Working Group).
Status: Currently in the House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee- Awaiting Hearing.
Key Features:
1. Qualitatively improves voter list maintenance for deceased voters and felons.
2. House Election Law Committee should adopt a “Proposed Committee Substitute” (PCS) that also includes provisions for: (A) identifying and removing foreign nationals and duplicate registrants; (B) specifying that citizen-reported errors in the Voter Registration List may be accepted by local Boards for verification and correction as appropriate; and (C) removing registrants who were added during same day registration or provisional ballot processes but whose voter verification mailings are returned non-deliverable.
H304- Election Day Integrity Act. (Companion Bill in Senate is S88) Sponsors- Rep Davis (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Warren (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Cleveland (Elections Working Group), and Rep Humphrey (Elections Working Group)
Status: Passed out of House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee; Currently in the House Rules, Operations and Calendar Committee- Awaiting Hearing
Key Features:
1. Bill requires all mail-in absentee ballots to be delivered to the local Board of Elections no later than 7:30PM on election day; rejecting any mail-in ballots after that date.
2. Bill adds periodic (daily) reporting requirements for local Boards of Elections for mail-in absentee ballots that were spoiled and sent but not yet received.
3. Bill adds reporting requirements for local Boards of Elections for provisional ballots counted, and for mail-in absentee ballots that were sent, received and counted-- all to be provided to the State Board of Election the day following the election.
4. This bill needs a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) to add: (A) the provision for At-Large Poll Observers to inspect container return envelopes during the periodic local Board of Elections meetings for acceptance and counting of mail-in absentee ballots; and (B) extension of the time to challenge a mail-in absentee ballot until 5:00PM the day prior to canvass. (Currently there is only a very narrow timeframe of less than 24 hours to investigate and challenge illegitimate mail-in ballots.)
H641- No Soliciting Certain Funds/Elections Boards. Sponsors- Rep Davis (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Pike (Elections Working Group), Rep Johnson, and Rep Crutchfield.
Status: Currently in the House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee- Awaiting Hearing.
Key Features:
1. Modeled after other state bills prohibiting the private funding to local election boards or the elections process. (Anti-Zuck-bucks Bill)
2. Needs a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) to add language also prohibiting “anything of value” (other than permitted Voter Registration services) being provided by private organizations to County Election Boards or to County Boards of Commissioners. (Some 501(c)3 organizations are seeking to circumvent the private funding prohibition by donating directly to county Boards of Commissioners or by providing training or other influencing services to Boards of Elections in hopes of shaping a favorable outcome in elections.)
3. Two counties in North Carolina (Brunswick and Forsyth) have already begun accepting “free” services from left-leaning 501(c)3 organizations that should be prohibited by this bill. Other counties may soon follow if this bill and PCS changes are not passed.
H485- Provisional Ballot/Same-Day Registration. Sponsors- Rep Mills (House Election Law Committee Chair), Rep Davis (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Warren (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), and Rep Blackwell (Election Law Committee).
Status: Currently in the House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee- Awaiting Hearing.
Key Features:
1. Bill requires Boards of Elections to issue same-day registrants (SDRs) a provisional ballot rather than a regular ballot.
2. This bill enables citizen researchers and poll observers to monitor and research suspicious same-day registrations prior to their provisional ballots being counted at canvass.
3. The bill needs a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) to add language requiring the local board of elections to provide a daily update of individuals same day registering (and casting a provisional ballot) as part of their daily early voting reports to the NCSBE, indicating a provisional ballot was issued to the SDRs.
H396- Repeal Participation in ERIC. Sponsors- Representative Setzer, Representative Moss, Representative Saine, and Representative Howard (Note- none of these sponsors are on the House Elections Working Group or House Elections and Campaign Finance Committee)
Status: Currently in the House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee- Awaiting Hearing.
Key Features:
1. One of two bills that will serve to cancel NC’s planned list maintenance collaboration with the Election Registration and Information Center (ERIC), a highly suspicious 501(c)3 organization with ties to David Becker and George Soros.
2. The other bill aiming to “Kill” ERIC collaboration is the omnibus Budget Bill (H259).
H303- Reduce Early One-Stop Voting Days. Sponsors- Davis (Elections Working Group Co-Chair), Rep Cleveland (Elections Working Group), Rep Humphrey (Elections Working Group), and Rep Clampitt (Elections Working Group).
Status: Currently in the House Election Law & Campaign Finance Committee- Awaiting Hearing.
Key Features:
1. Bill reduces one-stop early voting from 17 days in duration to just 8 consecutive days of one-stop early voting (Saturday through Saturday before the Tuesday Election Day).
2. Bill receive strong opposition from left-leaning organizations and lawmakers because they perceive shortening the period will keep many democrat voters from participating in early voting.
3. The bill will save substantial money by cutting the in-person, early voting period in half and thus reducing personnel costs
4. The bill will provide significant relief for volunteer poll workers and staff who become exhausted after 17 straight days of early voting.
S352- Remove Foreign Nationals from Voter Rolls. Sponsor- Sen Jim Burgin.
Status: Currently in the Senate Committee for Rules and Operations- Awaiting Hearing
Key Features:
1. Only bill currently introduced in either chamber that prescribes methods for discovering foreign nationals erroneously on our voter lists and removing them
2. Authorizes the disclosure of Jury Declination lists from the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) where foreign nationals decline jury duty for reason of non-citizen status & compels the exchange of that Jury List data between AOC and the NCSBE for list maintenance purposes.
3. Cleans up DMV accidental (unauthorized) voter registration of foreign nationals during motor-voter driver’s license issuance
NC Election Integrity Legislation needed this Session but not yet incorporated into Draft Bills:
Topic
Rationale/Key Features
Mail-in Voting by Reason Code
- Re-establish absentee ballot voting by reason code, eliminating ‘no excuse’ absentee
by mail to prevent abuse of ballot harvesting and the risks of absentee by mail ballot fraud
Prohibit private bar coding of Ballot Request Forms
-501(c)3 organizations are barcoding (and often pre-populating) ballot request forms and mailing them to prospective voters. The bar codes are used by the USPS to notify those private organizations when the absentee ballots are being returned to the local Boards of Elections which is a technical violation of NC election law (allowing private knowledge about which registrants are voting by mail)
-new statutory guidelines need to prohibit barcoding by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of ballot request forms and the sharing of which voters have requested mail-in ballots until after those ballots have been received at the local Board of Elections.
Legal Standing for Residents -
Wording and Summary page developed but no GS selected. It is a Heritage Foundation standard.
-Citizens need standing to bring an action in court to enforce election laws
Legal Standing for State Legislature -
Wording and Summary page developed but no Statute Selected. Heritage standard.
-The State legislature should have legal standing to sue other state officials.
Assistance to Voters with Disabilities & the Infirmed
- Clarification needed on rules for voters requiring assistance in voting enclosure; voter
must personally and coherently provide their name & current address and then express
clear desire to receive assistance from a poll worker, near relative or attendant
- The procedures for assistance to disabled voters in care facilities must be clarified in
light of the federal district court decision to allow the infirmed complete latitude for receiving assistance from anyone they choose.
Consent Judgements, Settlement Agreements-
Re-submit S360 Bill from last session
-Changes to state law via court settlement require approval of the state legislature
-This was vetoed by the Governor last session; Should try again with new supermajority; See https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/Senate/PDF/S360v3.pdf
Student Registration & Voting on Campus
-Out of state students should be emancipated and residents of NC to vote here; Staggering impact on election results in several counties
-Need language requiring all polling locations to be publicly accessible (no polling sites in
student unions or other restricted sites)
Administrator/Poll Worker Parity during Early Voting
-EV sites do not require poll worker parity; some are highly partisan
-Need to extend Precinct rules requiring party-nominated Chief & Associate Judges and
poll worker parity to EV sites since more votes are cast during early voting than on election
day
UOCAVA
-Too many U.S registrants living abroad who have never resided in NC or in the county where registered; enforce state requirement to have been a resident here for 30 days or longer and require the registration address to be a bona fide residential address
Post-Election Audits
-Currently the state of NC permits only NCSBE-monitored “risk limiting audits” (RLAs) which survey only an insignificant number of machines and races in each county; these RLAs do not engender confidence among voters
-NC can substantially improve its election audit performance and voter confidence by adding election audit authority and oversight to the State Auditor’s office- independent of the NCSBE
-the State Auditor ought to have authority to accomplish rulemaking, in coordination with the NCSBE, under the Administrative Procedures Act to accomplish post-election audits
Access to Voting Machines for Training
-NCSBE denies volunteer and poll observer access to tabulation machines for training purposes and for inspection during Logic & Accuracy Testing; even judges are not confident in using the Tabulators
-Must clarify local Board of Elections is obliged to grant supervised access to tabulators by Judges, Poll Workers, and Poll Observers within 30 days upon request, for training purposes
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