More absentee ballots in NC in danger of being tossed under new directives

A new directive to North Carolina county boards of election puts more ballots in jeopardy of being discarded, though voters will have the chance to fill out another.

Absentee ballots that arrive in the wrong envelope, or that arrive unsealed in the correct envelope, will no longer automatically count but will be rejected and new ballots issued, the state Board of Elections decided in a Friday party-line vote.

The absentee ballot package comes with two envelopes — an inner envelope for the ballot and an outer envelope to mail it back in. 

Mailed ballots that are not sealed in the inner envelope will be discarded and the ballots reissued, according to the new guidelines. Ballots will also be discarded if their inner envelopes have been opened and resealed.

It’s unclear how many voters have made these mistakes in past elections. 

The board adopted this new directive for counties on Friday morning, when the first absentee ballots are being mailed to voters who requested them.

Board Secretary Stacy “Four” Eggers IV said the guidance “will not change what voters experience.”

But board member Siobhan Millen, a Democrat, disagreed. 

“This does affect the voter,” she said. “It may not affect you as you’re filling it out, but it affects whether your ballot counts. That’s huge.”

She noted that details on changes the board considered were made public less than two hours before the meeting.

New NC voting rules delayed, but state elections board to consider workaround

Board member Angela Hawkins, a Republican, said the guidance aligns with state law specifying how absentee ballots should be returned. 

The change was initiated by a lawsuit brought by Republicans who objected to current directives that allowed ballots to count if they arrived in an unsealed inner envelope or not in an inner envelope at all, as long as the outer envelope was sealed.

The legal settlement required the board to reconsider those directions to county elections boards. 

The state board had proposed a new rule to address handling ballots in the wrong envelopes that was intended to go into effect for the midterms. The Rules Review Commission unanimously approved the rule last month, but received enough opposition letters to block it until the legislature can review it during its next regular session.. 

The board’s majority decided to send the revised directions to counties while the rule is delayed. 

The board also revised a directive on in-person delivery of absentee ballots. If a county board has specific, first-hand information that a ballot was hand-delivered by an unauthorized person, the ballot will be discarded and a new ballot issued. 

Sailor Jones, Common Cause North Carolina state director, denounced the changes. 

“The State Board of Elections just unilaterally chose along party lines to instruct counties to toss ballots that have previously counted in North Carolina,” he said in a statement. 

“This brazen action by Republican members of the State Board, taken in spite of voters’ objections to block this rule, and as absentee voting begins is a violation of public trust and will result in eligible ballots being spoiled during a high-interest midterm election,” Jones said.