RALEIGH — The North Carolina State Board of Elections announced a public comment period for various proposed rule changes.
Public comment on the rules opened on Feb. 17 and will end at 11:59 p.m. on April 21.
The proposed changes cover elections observer rules that were instituted by the General Assembly as well as the board’s proposed election protest and recount rules.
The N.C. State Board of Elections (NCSBE) adopted the three temporary election observer rules in January 2024 and voted to propose making those rules permanent during its meeting in January 2025.
The Challenge to the Appointment of an Observer outlines a process for county boards of elections to hear challenges for good cause and for appeals of decisions made.
The Appeal of Removal of an Observer from a Voting Site involves the process for the party that appointed an observer to appeal any removals of observers.
Identification of Observers requires every observer to wear an identification tag so voters and officials know who they are and their role.
The NCSBE is proposing three changes affecting protests and recounts, some of which are consequential and likely triggered by the protracted legal fight over the N.C. Supreme Court race between Republican Jefferson Griffin and Democrat Allision Riggs. All three rule changes were temporarily effective Aug. 8, 2024, with amended changes that would become effective July 1, 2025.
Actions of County Boards as to Election Protests would require county boards of elections to hold a preliminary determination meeting within two business days following a protest filing. If the board determines whether a hearing is necessary, it must be scheduled within five business days instead of 10 days.
County boards would have to transmit election protests by email rather than having multiple delivery options, but they must still transmit protests within 24 hours of filing or the same day if filed electronically. Additionally, decisions would have to be announced by 5 p.m. the day after the hearing, and written decisions must be filed within five business days instead of three.
The First Recount proposal would require county boards to schedule the first recount to begin within three business days of a recount request. However, any mandatory recount cannot begin earlier than the conclusion of the county canvass meeting.
The proposed rule appears to seek to standardize the use of machines for recounts as the primary method while at the same time setting up rules for the use of hand counting.
The original text states for the first recount that “all ballots that were originally counted shall be counted by machine.” The new text now specifies that ballots should be “recounted again by machine, notwithstanding the method by which the ballots were originally counted.” This would mean all ballots must be machine-counted in a recount, regardless of how they were counted the first time.
For ballots rejected by machines during the recount, the original text suggests these could either be recounted by hand or duplicated and counted by machine. The proposed change removes the option to duplicate and machine-count these ballots, requiring a bipartisan team of four people to count them by hand.
The changes add a new explicit clarification that if a machine successfully processes a ballot during the recount, it won’t be eligible for hand counting, even if there are potential issues with the ballot.
Under the proposed changes to Secondary Recounts, county boards would have to schedule the start of any hand recounts within two business days of a hand recount request, and it has specific notice requirements.
County boards must provide at least 24 hours advance notice of the recount that must be sent by email to all parties on the county notice list, including party chairs and the candidates involved.Public comment is accepted at tinyurl.com/nsj-sbecomment, by email to rulemaking.sboe@ncsbe.gov or by mail to Attn: Rulemaking Coordinator, P.O. Box 27255, Raleigh, NC 27611-7255
Additionally, an in-person public hearing will be held March 6 at 10 a.m. at the NCSBE office on the third floor of the Dobbs Building at 430 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh.
