Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 09/30/24

Voting Rights 

• On Tuesday North Carolina counties began distributing absentee ballots to voters who had requested them, following a two-week delay due to a court decision to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from the ballots. Over 207,000 voters have requested absentee ballots, and voters can continue requesting them until October 29. Following a new Republican-passed law, absentee ballots must be received (rather than postmarked) by 7:30 PM on Election Day to be counted.

• On Thursday the North Carolina Board of Elections announced it had removed around 750,000 voter registrations from the rolls, leading to widespread speculation and misinformation. In reality, this was a standard, non-partisan clean-up of voter rolls that took place over 20 months, and it involved removing registrations for voters who had moved, died, or not voted for two previous federal elections while in inactive status (i.e., missed four federal elections). Nearly half were duplicate registrations for voters who had moved within the state and registered at their new address.

• On Friday the NC Court of Appeals, which consists of 11 Republicans and 4 Democrats, ruled that UNC-Chapel Hill digital IDs cannot be used as voter ID in the upcoming election. The State Board of Elections had approved the use of digital OneCards as voter ID for students, faculty, and staff at UNC-Chapel Hill earlier this fall, but Republicans sued to stop their approval. The OneCard office has agreed to provide free physical OneCards to anyone on campus who only has a mobile OneCard.