Effects of SB 382
by Marian Lewin, LWVNC Vice-President
Here is the current status of two elections-related issues we've been following since the November 2024 election: the impact of SB 382 (SL 2024-57) that passed December 11, 2024, with a veto override vote and the election protests filed by the GOP and the Jefferson Griffin campaign following his loss in the Supreme Court race.
SB 382 made significant changes to both ballot-counting procedures and the composition of the CBOE (County Board of Elections) and SBE (State Board of Elections) boards and appointments. Incoming Governor Stein filed lawsuits directed at some of the changes in appointments (non-elections related), and the transfer of the SBE from the governor's office to the state auditor. The provisions of the bill relating to absentee and provision ballot review and vote counting have not been challenged and will be in effect in all upcoming elections. As we prepare to do election relations outreach, voters will need to be much more careful about informing voters who use absentee ballots and to avoid in-person errors that have resulted in past use of provisional ballots.
To summarize state and county board composition changes: Each board must include at least two members from each party; since NC State Auditor Dave Boliek is a Republican, he would likely appoint GOP chairs for both state and county boards of election, causing Republican majorities in both state and county boards.
2024 Elections - Republican Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin is seeking to toss out more than 60,000 votes in the race. He trails Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes.
In increasingly complicated legal manipulations, the Jefferson Griffin/GOP campaign claims that 60,000 voters who cast ballots in November were never determined to be eligible voters because their voter registration records do not include a NC driver's license number or verified SSN, placing their identity and eligibility in question. These voters are a subset of the original 225,000 voters they tried to disqualify before the election. We know that some voters on the list did provide a driver's license number or part of a SSN when they registered, and that there are many simple reasons why those numbers didn't show up in the database originally created in the 225,000 records reviewed earlier. For example, key-punching mistakes, name changes after a marriage, and problems in matching different computer databases could have created these issues.
It is important to recognize that these 60,000 voters were targeted not only for potential issues of irregular records, but because they cast their votes during early voting or by absentee ballot. All voters who voted on election day are protected because their ballot could not be singled out. Remember, voters who requested mail ballots were already required to provide the last four digits of a driver's license or SSN when making the request. And all voters had to provide a photo ID - often, a driver's license - or sign a form explaining why they lacked one when they voted.
LWVNC has intervened by filing an amicus brief. This case is ping-ponging between the NC State Supreme Court (NCSC) and the US Fourth Circuit Court. According to our lawyers at LWVUS, we hope to be heard at the US Fourth Circuit Court, but we are not part of proceedings at the NCSC. There are hearings scheduled which began January 14 at the NCSC and later the following week in federal court.
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