NC faces a new lawsuit over voting restrictions during the pandemic
Voting rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the N.C. Board of Elections and other state officials demanding they change elections law to allow safer balloting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filed Friday in U.S. District Court, the suit is brought by the nonprofit Democracy NC and the League of Women Voters on behalf of multiple citizens who are either elderly or disabled. The challengers have conditions including diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, making them more vulnerable to coronavirus.
The suit alleges North Carolina has failed to adjust its elections laws to make voting easier for these and other citizens, and that several rules now in place threaten to either dampen turnout or help spread the virus.
Among those rules, as described in the lawsuit:
▪ That the state requires registration 25 days before Election Day or in-person at an early-voting site, forcing people to expose themselves to crowds.
▪ That voters must fill out absentee ballots with a witness or notary, increasing contact with other people.
▪ That the state requires uniform staff at all polling places regardless of capacity or demand, leading to higher costs and reduced hours.
▪ That poll workers are required to live in their districts, leading to staff shortages, consolidated precincts and long lines.
The pandemic already has “decimated” voter registration, the suit says.
“Millions of North Carolinians will likely either lose their right to vote or be forced to compromise their health,” the suit says.
The challengers ask the court to declare the state’s rules unconstitutional, extend registration periods, allow safer, contact-free absentee voting and expand voter education.
In a different lawsuit this month, a group of voters backed by Democratic legal groups sued North Carolina seeking to loosen rules around mail-in ballots, The News & Observer reported.
After that lawsuit, a spokesman for North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican, accused the groups of trying to “taking a hatchet to elections’ confidence, security and validity.”
North Carolina has no-excuse absentee voting, so all voters can request mail-in ballots.
This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 9:22 AM.