COVID-19 Spurs Bipartisan Support For Absentee Ballot Bill

WUNC | By Stacia Brown,

Published June 4, 2020 at 1:40 PM EDT

With rare consensus from Democrats and Republicans in the North Carolina House of Representatives, House Bill 1169 — which outlines provisions for an anticipated increase in absentee-by-mail voting this fall — passed 116-3 last week.

Fear over public safety at polling sites has led to the quick, decisive action. The State Board of Elections projects that requests for mail-in ballots in North Carolina could jump from around 4% to 40% this year, based on data seen from recent elections in other states like Wisconsin. House Bill 1169 makes its way through Senate committees this week. Host Frank Stasio talks to WUNC political reporter Rusty Jacobs about what the bill’s potential success could mean for the general election in November.

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Stacia Brown

Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A, as well as WUNC’s The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for WUNC's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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