NC Alliance for Retired Americans v. North Carolina State Board of Elections
North Carolina
The NRF is supporting plaintiffs in a challenge to North Carolina’s failure to provide sufficiently accessible in-person voting opportunities that comply with social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its continued enforcement of several vote-by-mail restrictions and procedures that will unduly burden or deny the franchise to countless voters if applied during the November election, while the COVID-19 outbreak still threatens public safety.
Plaintiffs in the case include seven individual voter-plaintiffs and the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans. The case was filed in Wake County Superior Court on August 10, 2020.
On September 22, plaintiffs supported by the NRF entered into a stipulation and consent judgment with the NC Board of Elections to remedy three significant vote-by-mail restrictions ahead of the November general election.
The stipulation and consent judgment achieves the following pro-voter changes: (1) extends the ballot receipt deadline to 9 days after Election Day, for ballots postmarked by Election Day; (2) allows voters to cure any missing witness information on the container envelope by submitting a cure affidavit, in person, by email, or by mail; and (3) allows voters to submit absentee ballots at absentee ballot drop-off stations located at each one-stop early voting location and at county board offices, by providing their name orally and without waiting in line with other one-stop voters, thus alleviating long lines.