Judge rules on NC dispute over election observers, absentee ballot deadline
The North Carolina State Board of Elections can keep the current absentee ballot deadline, but it must allow some election observers to be replaced on a more frequent basis than current rules allow, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.
Republican groups, including the North Carolina GOP, earlier this year challenged several rules implemented by the North Carolina State Elections Board including the board’s decision to move the absentee ballot deadline from Nov. 11 to Nov. 14, the Associated Press reported. A judge on Thursday denied the plaintiffs’ request to move the deadline back to Nov. 11.
Plaintiffs also challenged the state elections board’s rule stating that at-large election observers can’t be replaced until they’ve worked a four-hour shift. A judge on Thursday placed a hold on that rule.
“This is a tremendous win for counties, both small and large,” the North Carolina GOP wrote in a press release. “It can be difficult to recruit volunteers to serve as observers, which is why the General Assembly created the role of at-large observers who are able to fill in the gaps by going from voting location to voting location throughout the day.”
Election observers are often appointed by political parties to monitor the voting process from inside the voting facility. Unlike poll workers, election observers don’t receive training from county elections boards on how to perform their duties. But they’re allowed to walk in designated areas to watch, take notes, and report any concerns to the precinct’s chief judge or one-stop manager.
The state elections board sought to tighten rules for observers after hearing that, during the May primaries, observers often left and reentered polling sites without asking permission from a poll official, distracting poll workers. In some cases, observers initiated conflicts with poll workers, elections directors reported.
County elections directors have told WRAL News that unfounded conspiracy theories questioning the integrity of the 2020 election results are causing confusion about how vote-counting works in North Carolina. County elections directors reported that some observers were verbally abusive and demanded access to voting machines.
