Outgoing legislature is cynically using much-needed disaster relief bill to push through harmful election changes

RALEIGH – In the wake of this year’s election, the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature returned today for a lame-duck session.

And in a failure of transparency, NC House leaders waited until just an hour before that chamber’s Tuesday night floor session to publicly release a dramatically changed, 131-page version of Senate Bill 382.

The bill is purportedly about much-needed hurricane relief, but the stealth measure is also brimming with a slew of unrelated provisions that would force radical changes to state government, undermine North Carolina’s election system, and harm voters.

In fact, just 12 pages of the 131-page bill deal with the needed disaster relief. The remaining 119 pages are filled with unrelated measures, many of which are highly controversial.

Among the bill’s provisions is a shocking change that would strip the Governor’s longstanding authority to appoint members to North Carolina’s bipartisan State Board of Elections. Republican lawmakers want to seize that power and hand it to the incoming Republican State Auditor, a lesser-known office that has never dealt with election administration.

The proposal would also severely reduce the time for voters to correct problems with their provisional ballots. And the bill would drastically limit the time for county boards of elections to count absentee and provisional ballots in future elections, potentially leading to eligible ballots being unfairly thrown out.

The sweeping changes are being pushed by legislative leaders as they cling to the final days of their supermajority, which they have apparently lost as a result of this year’s state House elections.

The bill passed the NC House on a 63-46 vote Tuesday night, and now goes to the NC Senate for consideration on Wednesday.

The following is a statement from Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina:

“Once again some politicians in the legislature are expressing a deep disdain for our constitutional system of checks and balances. It’s especially shameful that legislative leaders are trying to impose these harmful changes by tying them to unrelated but crucially needed disaster relief. The hurricane relief should be passed without controversial policies attached.

Our state is blessed with a strong election system, led by an independent, bipartisan State Board of Elections appointed by the chief executive of North Carolina – the Governor. That has been the case during both Democratic and Republican administrations, and it has served the people of North Carolina well.

Now, in a cynical ploy, Republican legislative leaders are exploiting the final days of their apparently lost supermajority to ram through a radical dismantling of our election system. They’re attempting this with no public notice and no public input. This is an insult to the people of North Carolina and it undermines trust in our legislature.

Today’s surprise bill would also make other harmful changes for voters, severely shortening the time for voters to correct issues with their provisional ballots. And it would require county boards of elections to dangerously rush the counting of absentee and provisional ballots – overburdening county election staff and potentially leading to eligible votes being unfairly thrown out.

Instead of lashing out at North Carolina voters, lawmakers should focus on doing their jobs and get to work serving the public. The people of North Carolina have had enough of these ridiculous partisan political games. These proposed election changes are poorly conceived, totally unnecessary, and should be soundly rejected.”

Common Cause North Carolina is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.