Disability advocates and other voting rights groups in North Carolina lost a legal fight to throw out the requirement of witness statements on absentee ballots. The requirement is emerging as the top cause of rejected ballots in the state.
So far…
- 1,700 of the 200,000 total ballots returned have been rejected.
- Black voters make up 43% of ballots rejected for this reason, yet they have cast only 16% of the votes.
- Black voters ballots are rejected at four times the rate as white voters according to analysis by FiveThirtyEight.
- NC has the most Black voters of tossup states expected to decide the election and those voters reliably vote for Democrats.
- Ballot curing the process of fixing errors on absentee ballots has been streamlined as part of the legal settlement in NC.
- Witness signatures were struck down in neighboring South Carolina when a judge ruled the requirement would “increase the risk of contracting COVID-19.”
- 12 states have the witness requirement, but none of the 5 states that conduct all elections by mail do, and they see no fraud from this.
Absentee ballot fraud did occur in a 2018 congressional race in North Carolina, but the forged ballots were in service of the Republican candidate.
Links
Voters struggling with witness rules in early voting
President Trump is facing a bipartisan backlash for refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, but he’s showing no sign of backing down. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for TODAY from the White House.
NBC News
Election Fraud in North Carolina Leads to New Charges for Republican Operative
L. McCrae Dowless Jr., who was previously indicted over work in other elections, was charged in connection to efforts related to the 2018 general elections.
Alan Blinder —NYTimes
State Board Updates Cure Process to Ensure More Lawful Votes Count | NCSBE
The State Board of Elections on Tuesday announced changes to the absentee voting process to make it easier for a voter to fix problems with their absentee ballot.
NCSBE
North Carolina Is Already Rejecting Black Voters’ Mail-In Ballots More Often Than White Voters’
In every election, a small percentage of mail-in ballots get rejected. But this election is likely to have a whole lot of mail-in ballots. And in an election wh…
Kaleigh Rogers —FiveThirtyEight
