Federal District Court Judge William Osteen issued an injunction in the case of Democracy NC v NC State Board of Elections on August 4. Osteen rejected most of the plaintiffs' ... Keep Reading
election law
State elections board Executive Director’s emergency order on voting sites is not discriminatory
North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell issue an emergency order for the November general election on July 17 during the Friday ... Keep Reading
The 11th district second primary was a dry run for November. How did it go?
Polling places in the Republican 11th Congressional District second primary on June 23 were well-supplied with masks, hand sanitizer, and other safety supplies. While election ... Keep Reading
Faithless no more: US Supreme Court upholds laws (like in NC) that require electors to vote for state’s popular vote winner
When electors meet across the county to vote for president in December of 2016, the vast majority of them voted according to the popular vote of their states. In fact, 32 states ... Keep Reading
A primer on how sausage is made in the NC General Assembly
The American poet, John Godfrey Saxe* once said "Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made." The North Carolina General Assembly ... Keep Reading
Newly enacted election law could short circuit four lawsuits
The General Assembly passed H1169, a bill designed to deal with voting during the coronavirus pandemic, with wide bipartisan majorities. The passage of H1169 will likely ... Keep Reading
The Only Safe Means of Voting is Hand-Marked Paper Ballots
This op-ed originally appeared in Real Clear Policy on June 4. Since then, problems with ballot marking devices in Georgia's June 9 primary further demonstrated the need for a ... Keep Reading
Election bill passes House but still has major problems
I wrote on May 27 that there were three major problems with H1169, the Bipartisan Elections Act of 2020: Reducing the witness requirement for absentee ballots from 2 to 1 ... Keep Reading
Bad bill watch: Redistricting bill is impractical and runs counter to NC Constitution
North Carolina’s county clusters are a unique solution to the problem of balancing two constitutional requirements for redistricting A bill to alter how county clusters are ... Keep Reading
Coronavirus elections bill has some bitter medicine, but is it necessary?
(Correction added on May 23 to item 3 under "changes for 2020 only.") We knew that it was coming. Since the coronavirus began affecting government policy back in March, I ... Keep Reading
