NC House elections bill adds requirements for overseas voters, allows for more partisan staff
A sweeping proposal on who can vote, how they can vote, and how votes are counted will be debated at 10 am Tuesday in the N.C. House Elections Committee.
An electronic portal for public comments on House Bill 958 has been established on the General Assembly homepage.
Among other changes, the bill would:
- Prohibit state and local elections board members from “encouraging or promoting voter turnout in any election.”
- Require military and overseas voters to submit documentation showing their most recent North Carolina address along with their registration applications. They would also be required to submit photo identification with their ballots. The ID requirement puts into law a state Supreme Court decision in Republican Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin’s unsuccessful attempt to throw out ballots in his 2024 race for a Supreme Court seat.
- Make overseas voters who have never lived in North Carolina but vote in the state because their parents last lived here ineligible to vote in state or local elections. This also reflects a state Supreme Court decision in the Griffin case. Griffin’s lawsuit referred to these voters as “never residents.”
- Give voters who cast provisional ballots because they didn’t show ID, or who have mistakes or omissions on their absentee ballot envelopes, called “curable deficiencies”, a few more days to show their ID or correct the mistakes. The bill extends the deadline for corrections from Friday after an election to Tuesday after an election.
- Give county elections boards more time to announce absentee ballot counts, moving the deadline from Friday after an election to Tuesday.
https://ncnewsline.com/2026/06/15/nc-house-elections-bill-adds-requirements-for-overseas-voters-allows-for-more-partisan-staff/