Members of the North Carolina Board of Elections are sworn into office on May 7, 2025. (Photo: Lynn Bonner/NC Newsline)
A divided NC Board of Elections voted along party lines Wednesday to take a broad look at administrative rules for absentee ballots.
The result could be stricter rules on what kinds of errors voters will be required to correct in order for their votes to count.
The board won’t make any changes to rules or practices before the March 3 primary.
The decision to reconsider how to address mail-in ballot mistakes stems from the settlement of a federal lawsuit brought by the NCGOP, the Republican National Committee and a voter over how absentee ballots county elections officials should handle ballots that are not sealed in the proper envelope.
Absentee ballot instructions say ballots should be sealed in an inner envelope, then placed in an outer envelope for return to county elections offices.
Former state elections director Karen Brinson Bell told county officials in 2021 it was okay if voters did not seal their ballots in the inner envelope – that their votes should still be counted. The state Republican Party and the Republican National Committee objected and asked the state Board of Elections for an official ruling in 2024. The board, then with a Democratic majority, unanimously endorsed Brinson Bell’s position.
Republicans sued in federal court. The suit was dismissed in December as the reconstituted, Republican-majority Board of Elections and Republican plaintiffs agreed that the board would reconsider its 2024 decision.
After a free-wheeling debate, the board voted 3-2, with Republicans in the majority, to consider not only a change to envelope rules, but a potential rewrite of other rules for absentee ballot errors and which mistakes voters would need to fix.
Democrats on the board worried about unnecessarily penalizing voters.
“Nobody should deprive a person of their vote on the basis of a non-material error,” said Democrat Jeff Carmon.
Republican Bob Rucho said it’s the voter’s responsibility to follow instructions. If the instructions are too confusing, he said, it’s the board’s responsibility to clarify them.
Voter challenge hearing next week
The board postponed consideration of a challenge to Margot Dupre’s candidacy in the U.S. Senate Republican primary.
Fayetteville resident Jerry Reinoehl brought the challenge. The address DuPre has on her voter registration and the address she used when she filed to run for office is for a UPS store in Charlotte. Voter registration applications require a residential address. Applicants can provide a separate mailing address if they don’t receive mail where they live.
Reinoehl’s complaint alleges that Dupre is probably registered in Florida at an Ocala address.
Dupre is one of seven Republicans running in the GOP primary for the open U.S. Senate seat.
The board voted to push the hearing to Feb. 4 after Dupre told them she didn’t have enough advance notice to find a lawyer.
Dupre made a short statement asking for a continuance, then said she wouldn’t answer any questions without a lawyer.
Reinoehl said after the meeting that he has been involved in election integrity efforts for years and is on the lookout for voters who use UPS store addresses as home addresses.
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