Editorial: Proposed law aims at GOP partisan advantage, not election integrity

CBC Editorial: Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023; editorial #8867

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

If a qualified voter casts a legitimate ballot during the appropriate period before or on Election Day, it should be counted.

If they happen to cast a ballot by mail with a postmark before or on Election Day and it is received in a reasonable period – within the nine days before the “canvass” for the official tallying of votes by local elections boards in North Carolina – those votes should count.

That is not rocket science. It is fair.

There’s a common-sense reason for having a grace period for mail-in ballots to be received. While voters may studiously adhere to all the requirements for mail-in ballots – mailing in the proper request for the ballot and completing all of the information required to affirm the identity of the mail-in voter and provide assurance that the ballot is legitimately cast – there is much that is out of the mail-in voters’ control.

They cannot determine just how long it might take the Postal Service to get their ballot application to the local elections office. They cannot determine how long it will take for the ballot to be sent back to them. And, regardless of how long before Election Day they return a properly completed ballot, they have no control over how long it might take the Postal Service to deliver that ballot to the local board of elections.

That is why there’s been a three to nine-day grace period, for ballots postmarked on Election Day, for them to be received at elections offices.

Now the General Assembly’s passed, along sharp partisan lines, Senate Bill 747 – Election Law Changes to eliminate the grace period and sent on to Gov. Roy Cooper. It is legislation most appropriate for Cooper’s veto stamp.

What could be the reason to eliminate the grace period on those mail-in ballots cast in the United States?

Just look at the results of votes by mail. Given the hyper partisanship of the General Assembly’s leadership and majority, the answer is obvious.

In the last presidential election -- 2020 – there were nearly 1 million ballots voted by mail – about 20% of all votes cast in North Carolina. Nearly 71% of the votes cast by mail went to Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden. In 2022 about 72% of the ballots cast by mail were for Cheri Beasley – the Democratic candidate for U.S. senator.

In their never-ending quest for ways – legitimate or not, legal or not -- to tilt elections in their favor, legislative leaders want a law to prohibit counting of the votes of SOME people who cast ballots by or on Election Day.

Why discriminate against people who cast legitimate ballots but happen to use the mail? Because it seems in the past few elections they happen to have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats.

We would venture not too wildly, if voting by mail yielded heavy GOP support there’d be an extended grace period for the receipt of those ballots.

“Requiring all ballots to be in on Election Day increases confidence and transparency in our elections,” claims bill co-sponsor state Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke County. “Every day that passes after Election Day with votes still coming in creates the possibility of distrust in the process.”

Say what? What evidence is there – has there ever been – that there is any problem with the current law allowing for mail-in ballots postmarked on Election Day to be counted if they are received within three days after Election Day? None.

The fact is that Daniel and his bill co-sponsor Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, don’t even believe that themselves. The proof? The same bill allows for mail-in ballots cast by citizens overseas and postmarked Election Day – whether because of a personal situation or because they serve in the military service – to be received up to nine days after the election and to be counted. What makes mail-in ballots coming from overseas – where there’s even less knowledge of the handling of ballots and other postage – than those mailed within the U.S.?

Nothing.

State Sen. Natasa Marcus, D-Mecklenburg, is on target with her concerns that the changes are “going to dissuade people from voting, throw out ballots, suppress the votes of certain people.”

Why else would Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, be doing a 180 turnaround on the issue. "When polls have closed, we want some certainty that these are the ballots that are going to be counted." Before he and fellow Republicans became the majority party in the General Assembly, Berger backed a grace period for receipt of mail-in ballots.

There is nothing magic or even official about ballots cast and counted on Election Day. The truth is that state law specifically says that the vote-count immediately after polls close is NOT official. The official vote count – that includes properly received mail-in ballots and provisional ballots – comes 10 days after Election Day when the local Elections Board meets to conduct its canvass. That is the official process, as laid out by law, to affirm the authenticity of votes cast and that they have been counted and tabulated correctly. Prior to the canvass meeting, the local board must also complete any discretionary or mandatory recounts.

Gov. Cooper should veto this transparently partisan bill aimed at giving Republicans advantage at the polls. Legislators should seek to provide election rules that work to encourage and enable all eligible voters to cast ballots by Election Day and assure that every properly cast ballot is accurately counted.

Capitol Broadcasting Company's Opinion Section seeks a broad range of comments and letters to the editor. Our Comments beside each opinion column offer the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about this article.

In addition, we invite you to write a letter to the editor about this or any other opinion articles. Here are some tips on submissions >> SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR