Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends election administration and campaign processes in North Carolina.

Highlights:

• Extends multiple correction deadlines from the 3rd business day after an election to the 5th business day (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes hand-to-eye recounts rather than an electronic count when there's a material discrepancy, such as in the case of absent lost or destroyed ballots, as well as other reasonable basis (Sec. 1).

• Specifies early-voting count timing and allows a single notary to satisfy the two-witness requirement for absentee ballots (Sec. 1).

• Establishes a new crime for revealing ballot count results before polls close (Sec. 1).

• Requires party labels on the ballot to match candidate name font and size (Sec. 2).

• Establishes a formal process for suspending/removing precinct officials, including permanent disqualification for cause (Sec. 2).

• Expands the disorderly conduct statute to cover voting places while in use or being prepped (Sec. 2).

• Requires new chain-of-custody and storage procedures for voting equipment and ballots after early voting closes (Sec. 2).

• Expands voter list maintenance methods, including interstate data-sharing agreements and monthly DMV data transfers (Sec. 2).

• Establishes a new statewide post-election audit process for potentially ineligible votes, plus a separate State Auditor audit program where each county is audited at least once every six years (Sec. 2).

• Requires voter registration applicants to affirmatively state U.S. citizenship (previously applications could be processed if the applicant declined to answer) and adds a cure process for blank answers (Sec. 2).

• Increases party-affiliation requirement to run in a primary from 90 days to 365 days, with a party-waiver option (Sec. 2).

• Authorizes judicial review of State Board decisions to be filed in the petitioner's home county, whereas previously this only applied to Wake County (Sec. 3).

• Increases county board member per-meeting pay from $25 to $100 (Sec. 3). 

• Increases the 48-hour large-contribution report threshold from $1,000 to $2,000, which will include future CPI adjustments (Sec. 3).

• Defines "foreign national" and adds new prohibitions on foreign-national involvement in referendum campaigns (Sec. 5).

• Requires counties, cities, and local school boards to use federal decennial census data only when drawing district boundaries (Sec. 6).

• Requires the State Board to study the feasibility and cost of signature verification technology and report to the legislature by May 1, 2027 (Sec. 7).

• Specifies that this act takes effect January 1, 2027 unless otherwise specified (Sec. 10).

Full Bill Text