The NC Senate moved swiftly to pass two elections bills Tuesday that would alter many aspects of voting from registration to ballot counting.
Read more NC Senate advances controversial but slimmed-down elections change bill
Republicans said the changes would enhance election security and improve election administration.
House Bill 834 focused mostly on ballot counting and voters supplying missing signatures. It passed the Senate unanimously.
Most of the debate and controversy centered on House Bill 958. It was approved in a 28-13 party-line vote with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposed.
Among the controversial provisions in House Bill 958 are:
- Reducing early voting periods during primaries, primary runoffs and special elections from 17 days to 10 days.
- Requiring state Auditor Dave Boliek to conduct post-election audits of county election systems.
- Using federal databases and information from other states to identify people who have died but remain on the voter rolls.
As the vote was taken a few opponents sitting in the Senate gallery began to chant, “The people united will never be defeated.” The group was removed from the gallery.
The Senate votes on the bills came after leaders fast-tracked them through two committees on Tuesday.
Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke, told the Senate Rules Committee the bills are “intended to aid in elections administration, as well as continue our efforts to secure and ensure election integrity in our elections.”
During the floor debate, Sen. Joyce Waddell, D-Mecklenburg, called the controversial bill “a power grab.”
“This bill is protecting the people who are already in charge, and that shouldn’t be,” she said.
To counter Democrats’ arguments that Republicans have passed law after law to hinder voting, Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnson, said the percentage of eligible voters who turn out for elections has increased since Republicans took control of the legislature. One of his comparisons was the 2002 midterm election turnout versus turnout in the 2022 midterm.
“People have confidence to go vote when they know the election process works,” Sawrey said.
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NC House passes its controversial elections bill with only GOP votes
Republicans passed a controversial law in 2024 that gave Republican North Carolina Auditor Boliek the power to appoint members of the state Board of Elections, taking that power away from Democratic Governor-elect Josh Stein. Boliek also appoints all county board of elections chairs.
Sen. Val Applewhite, D-Cumberland, said voters didn’t elect Boliek to run elections. State and local elections boards already conduct audits.
“Why is the bill voting to double down on top of the power he’s already been given?” she asked. “Why is he being given the power to walk into our county boards after every election and check their work?”
Warren said the audits will provide for continuous improvement.
Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, argued that unreliable federal databases should not be used to flag dead voters. Instead, he said, the state should join ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center, an organization some states use to keep their voter rolls up to date.
None of the changes Senate Democrats proposed won approval from majority Republicans. They voted to sideline nearly a dozen Democratic amendments, including one that would allow the state to join ERIC and another requiring voters flagged as dead by federal databases to be notified before they’re removed from the rolls. Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed, D-Mecklenburg, said eligible voters could be removed due to confusion over similar names, a known issue with the federal SAVE database.
Members of the public told the Senate Rules Committee bills are aimed at problems that don’t exist. They said the measure feeds into a false idea that elections are not secure and that large numbers of noncitizens or voters posing as people who have died are casting ballots.
“What problems are these things supposed to fix?” asked Durham resident Karen Ziegler of the advocacy group Democracy Out Loud. “I am having less trust in you with each passing day.”
Bob Rodrigues of Wake County, a member of Democracy Out Loud, told the committee that truncating early voting will harm voters who work long shifts, travel, or work more than one job.
“That seven days matters,” he said.
Both bills must go back to the House for votes, potentially as soon as next week.
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