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President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and others have filed a lawsuit ahead of Election Day in an attempt to block North Carolina officials from being able to enforce new rule changes regarding mail-in ballots.
New guidelines recently issued by the state elections board allow absentee mail-in ballots with inadequate witness information to be fixed without the voter being required to fill out a new blank ballot for the November general election, ABC News reported.
According to a KSAT report, the new guidance means the ballot won’t be considered “spoiled,” and the voter will receive an affidavit to sign in order to rectify the issue.
But the plaintiffs argue this move is a violation of the 14th Amendment and will increase the likelihood of voter fraud.
The plaintiffs, who also include the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party, are asking the Court to bar the state from implementing the new guidelines.
According to ABC News, North Carolina General Assembly leaders have filed a similar lawsuit in federal court against election board members, asking a judge to block the enforcement of the board’s absentee ballot changes.
“This is an action to vindicate properly enacted election laws and procedures against an improper and ultra vires backroom deal publicly announced earlier this week,” the lawsuit says.
The deal is between the defendants and a “partisan group that, with its allies, has been announcing similar deals around the county” with the intent of undermining the state general assembly’s “carefully-considered, balanced structure of election laws.”
The plaintiffs argue that while the deal is touted as being a means of allowing voters to have greater access during the pandemic, it actually undermines “protections that help ensure the upcoming election will be not only safe and accessible but secure, fair, and credible.’”
The North Carolina General Assembly in 2001 made absentee voting available to all voters, without their needing to state a reason for wishing to use mail-in ballots, the lawsuit says.
According to KSAT, North Carolina expects to see a surge in mail-in ballots for the upcoming Election Day due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. More than one million of the state’s voters already requested an absentee ballot as of Sept. 24; nearly 240,000 completed ballots had been returned.
Issues surrounding insufficient witness information on mail-in ballots have had a disproportionate effect on Black voters, KSAT reported. While Black residents account for 16% of ballots returned, their ballots account for 43% of those with insufficient witness information.
North Carolina is one of eight states that have witness or notary public requirements for absentee mail-in ballots, ABC News reported.
The North Carolina General Assembly in June enacted House Bill 1169, which was intended to protect voter safety and ease some ballot procedures in light of the pandemic, the lawsuit says. The bill passed “by overwhelming bipartisan majorities.”
The state elections board’s new guidelines directly contradict HB1169, the lawsuit argues.
Not only do they undermine the assembly’s authority, the guidelines are part of the “Democracy Docket,” a national strategy “formulated by lawyers for the Democratic Party Committees.”
According to the lawsuit, Democracy Docket organizers say they’re involved with lawsuits in 22 U.S. states “to rewrite election laws in the state and federal courts.” However, rather than seeing the litigation through to its conclusion, the group cuts “backroom deals” to “eviscerate statutory protections against fraud, sow confusion among the electorate and election officials, and extend the November 2020 election to mid-November or beyond.”
The plaintiffs say on the same day that the election board’s changes six weeks ahead of Election Day were not authorized by state law.
They allege the new system will violate citizens’ right to vote by allowing absentee ballots to be cast late and without the appropriate witness verification, “which invites fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting.”
The lawsuit says the RNC also has an interest in putting a stop to “abrupt and unlawful changes” to the state’s election laws because such changes can cause voter confusion, “undermine confidence in the electoral process” and give voters an incentive to avoid the polls.
Do you think North Carolina should be able to implement changes to how it handles incomplete information on mail-in ballots? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by R. Scott Tobin of Taylor English Duma LLP and Bobby R. Burchfield and Matthew M. Leland of King & Spalding LLP.
The North Carolina Mail-In Ballots Lawsuit is Patsy J. Wise, et al. v. the North Carolina State Board of Elections, et al., Case No. 5:20-cv-00505, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Western Division.
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