Judge Refuses to Block North Carolina's New Mail-In Ballot Rules
Is tossing ballots over envelope technicalities a disgrace or are signature and seal rules the most basic election security?
Above: Mail-in ballots are prepared at the Wake County Board of Elections in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Sept. 11. Image credit: Allison Joyce/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Facts
- U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder declined Monday to block North Carolina's new mail-in ballot rules, denying a preliminary injunction and said changing procedures was infeasible because voting had already begun.
- The rules direct county officials to reject mail ballots whose inner envelope is not sealed and require verification that signatures match the voter's name. Schroeder wrote that neither provision is "burdensome, much less unduly so."
- North Carolina's State Board of Elections, which has a 3-2 Republican majority, approved the changes Sept. 4 along party lines, hours before ballots were mailed. Gov. Josh Stein called the move a "blatant circumvention of the law."
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The Spin
Left narrative
Tossing out legitimate ballots over an envelope flap is a disgrace, and cannot be repackaged as election integrity. Rewriting the rules the same morning ballots hit mailboxes guarantees confusion, and legitimate voters are stuck paying the price. A technicality should never outweigh a lawfully cast vote.
Right narrative
Asking voters to sign a name and seal a ballot in an envelope is about as basic as election security gets. Gutting signature checks would mean officials must accept ballots signed by anyone at all — a recipe for fraud no state can tolerate. Suing on the eve of voting has created the real chaos here.
