(The Center Square) – Legislation to reform North Carolina election laws was sent to the Senate on Wednesday for concurrence following approval in the House of Representatives along party lines.
Senate Bill 747, which among many changes will require absentee ballots in county board offices on or before Election Day, must gain final approval from the Senate after revisions in the House. It will then head to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, where the 90th veto of his tenure and 15th this session is anticipated.
Lawmakers are 14-for-14 overriding his vetoes this session.
SB747 cleared the House late Wednesday evening 69-47, with no Democrats in support. The Senate approved in June on a party-line vote, as well.
Cooper, who has vetoed elements of SB747 in standalone bills, has described the legislation and Senate Bill 749 to create evenly bipartisan election boards as a Republican attempt to “ignore voters and rig elections.”
Democrats outlined numerous objections on the House floor, saying the bill will disenfranchise thousands of voters in a variety of ways.
“We flat out know this is going to make it harder for voters to vote,” said Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford.
Republicans who hold three-fifths majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly necessary to override Cooper have cited an intent to strengthen election integrity, pointing to public polls that show about half of North Carolinians do not believe elections will be free or fair.
“All of the sections in the whole bill is aimed at improving our elections, improving the integrity of our elections, and helping our elections work better for everybody in North Carolina,” Iredell Republican Rep. Grey Mills, chairman of the House elections committee, said Wednesday.
SB747 would make Election Day the deadline for county boards of elections to receive absentee ballots, a move that aligns with 30 other states. Other provisions ban private funding in elections, remove noncitizens from voter rolls, increase retention of election records to 22 months, and require bipartisan representation of election officials in early voting sites.
Changes in the House incorporated reforms on election observers in House Bill 774, and shift to “early voting” instead of “one-stop absentee” voting that will no longer require early voters to sign an absentee request application.
Other House changes align confirmation of same-day registrations with other voter registrations, and require hand-delivered mail ballots to be handed to a person at an election office, effectively banning drop boxes.
The House also amended the bill to allow unaffiliated voters to vote in the primary of their choice, not needing a resolution from the parties to invite them.
House Democrats offered 17 amendments Wednesday, and all but one to allow in-kind donations for food and pens were voted down. Another successful amendment from Mills would give the State Board of Elections the authority to create a process for challenges and appeals.
SB747 would take effect on Jan. 1, if it becomes law.
