DNC sues North Carolina over Republican-backed election bill

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the North Carolina Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the North Carolina State Board of Elections, immediately after a pair of GOP-backed election laws went into effect when the state Legislature voted to override the Democratic governor’s veto. 

The lawsuit challenges Senate Bill 747, which the plaintiffs claim is “designed to undermine the right to vote in North Carolina.”

The plaintiffs focus on same-day voting changes in the bill, specifically provisions that require voters who register on the same day to produce additional documentation that other voters registering to vote are not required to produce. 

The plaintiffs take issue with the fact that those same-day registrants’ ballots would then be discarded if one verification notice is returned undeliverable. The plaintiffs note that registration applications by other voters cannot be rejected unless there are two undeliverable verification notices, and even then, non-same-day voter registration applicants have a method to appeal the ruling, which is not the case for same-day registrants. 

“These provisions are not justified by any sufficient state interest, and they will deny eligible voters their fundamental right to cast ballots and have those ballots counted,” plaintiffs said. 

The plaintiffs also take issue with part of the law that eliminates the grace period for absentee ballots and requires the ballots be discarded if not received by 7:30 p.m. on election day. At the same time, they point out, the law extends the time allowed to challenge absentee ballots. 

“The legislature has thus perversely given less time to those who seek to exercise their fundamental right to vote and more time to those who seek to deny it,” they wrote.

The state Legislature, which has a veto-proof Republican majority, voted to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the bill Tuesday, enacting the new legislation. Republicans have claimed the bill strengthens election integrity, while Democrats dismiss those claims as unfounded and argue the new restrictions seek to rob people of the right to vote.