Republicans at the North Carolina General Assembly argue their latest attempt to shorten the period for accepting and counting absentee-by-mail ballots is about election integrity. Democrats and voting rights advocates dispute that and say the GOP's real aim is to suppress votes.
A bill that advanced along party lines in the House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform committee on Tuesday would eliminate a three-day grace period for counting properly postmarked mail-in ballots.
Bill sponsor Ted Davis, a Republican representative from New Hanover County, told the committee the measure would streamline North Carolina's absentee-by-mail process and make it more transparent and trustworthy.
"When the ballot is cast it goes straight to the Board of Elections, nothing can happen in between," Davis said.
Under state law in place since 2009, absentee-by-mail ballots could be accepted and counted as long as they're postmarked by — and received up to three days after — Election Day. Davis' bill would move up that deadline to the close of polls on Election Day.
And the bill would prohibit voters from dropping off their mail-in ballots in person at one-stop, early voting sites, something allowed under state law since 2013.
"I'm not really sure what the purpose of this bill is," said Rep. Allison Dahle (D-Wake), expressing the frustration she shares with her fellow Democrats, who pointed out that any lack of trust in elections is rooted in false claims of fraud by Republicans, not actual coordinated, criminal efforts to alter outcomes. "I don't know what the broken system is."
Republican supporters of the legislation also argued their bill would bolster public confidence by expediting the final count of votes. But Democrats exposed the weakness of the argument by noting that certified election results still wouldn't come before completion of the 10-day post-election canvass.
And absentee ballots from U.S. citizens and military personnel overseas can be received up to nine days after Election Day.
"I think this is part of a national movement to undermine confidence in our democracy and our elections," said Ann Webb, policy director with Common Cause North Carolina.
And Cassandra Stokes, an attorney with the North Carolina Black Alliance, agreed with Webb's contention that the bill's real purpose is to suppress turnout among voters less likely to elect Republicans.
"This bill is called the Election Day Integrity Act," Stokes said. "But how can we talk about integrity and what is integrity when we are turning voters away?"
The House bill still must make its way through committee and then get reconciled with a Senate version before final passage.
In 2021, Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, successfully vetoed similar legislation.
