A federal judge on Monday denied an attempt to block stricter standards for mail-in ballots in North Carolina, marking a blow to Democratic-affiliated efforts to reverse Republican-backed changes to the election process made earlier this year.
Last month, the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved several changes to voting that it said were aimed at making it harder for fraud to occur, a move that triggered a lawsuit from several groups that argued it could mean voters won’t have time to receive new ballots if errors are discovered just before deadlines, possibly disenfranchising voters.
Judge Thomas Schroeder of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina denied a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the changes this week. He scolded the plaintiffs for bringing the lawsuit this late in the election cycle, noting that in this case, the election isn’t “merely upcoming; it has already started” through early voting.
“At a minimum, the merits are far from ‘clear-cut,’ plaintiffs have delayed in seeking the relief they now seek, and implementing the changes sought is infeasible at this stage in the midst of voting,” Schroeder, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, wrote in his 72-page opinion.
The saga started in early September, when the NCSBE, which is composed of three Republicans and two Democrats, tightened standards for mail-in ballots to be counted. The changes were approved along party lines, with Democrats dissenting, just hours before the state became the first in the country to begin mailing out ballots for the midterm elections.
Under the new guidelines, officials can disqualify a ballot if its signature does not match the name assigned to the application on the return envelope. The standards also strengthened the signature-verification process, mandating that only the voters themselves or their near relative or legal guardian may return a mail-in ballot for it to be cast. In addition, the changes mandated that voters who don’t seal their ballots in an inner envelope inside the mailing envelope could have their ballots discarded and be sent another ballot.
The changes were criticized by Democrats as “last-minute workarounds that could keep their vote from counting,” with Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) claiming they marked “a blatant circumvention of the law.”
In late September, the changes were challenged in a lawsuit brought by the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Down Home North Carolina, and two voters. The plaintiffs are left-of-center activist groups working with Democratic operative Marc Elias’s law firm.
The groups alleged the state’s changes violated the First and 14th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, in a move questioned by state and national Republican Party groups.
“The state board’s late-breaking policies threaten to disenfranchise North Carolinians for immaterial mistakes with envelope sealing and based on the arbitrary decisions of untrained election officials reviewing their signatures,” the lawsuit alleged.
Schroeder, the federal judge, dismissed such concerns on Monday, saying the process offers voters plenty of time to rectify problems with returned ballots.
“The absentee voter who fails to seal his or her ballot correctly has an opportunity to correct a mistake, and is not barred from participating in early voting or voting on Election Day,” the judge said. “Likewise, the voter whose signature is rejected for ‘clear evidence’ that it is not their name has an opportunity to submit another ballot, participate in early voting, or vote on Election Day.”
“Neither of the two challenged provisions, which are clearly stated on the absentee ballot materials — that the voter sign his or her own name and place their ballot in a sealed envelope provided by the county board of election — is burdensome, much less unduly so,” Schroeder added.
NCSBE executive director Sam Hayes has said the board is “confident that this process will be as smooth, secure, and seamless as possible for voters.”
Hayes said in September that if people plan to vote by mail, they should be careful to read all instructions carefully and mail their ballots sooner rather than later, in case of a problem that could force them to start from scratch, according to WRAL.
TRUMP SHARES DETAILED PLAN OF EAST POTOMAC GOLF LINKS DESPITE LEGAL CHALLENGES
The legal debate comes as the number of people voting by mail in North Carolina is down 33% compared with the same point in the 2022 midterm election, according to the NCSBE. Roughly 148,000 mail-in ballots have been requested in North Carolina this year.
Mail-in ballot requests fell 41% among Democrats, compared with 27% among Republicans, according to the latest state data.