Old North News

Election Integrity measure Senate Bill 326 is moving forward through the North Carolina Senate.

Senate Bill 326 would set close of business (5 p.m.) on Election Day as the deadline for accepting absentee ballots. SB 326 was recently approved by voice vote and referred out of committee, according to Carolina Journal.

“S.B. 326 moves North Carolina back to the standard we had until a decade ago; that all voters are responsible for getting their ballots submitted to election officials by Election Day,” Andy Jackson, director of public integrity for the John Locke Foundation, told Carolina Journal. “It will end county boards of elections' dependence on postmarks, which are often absent or illegible, and eliminate confusion we often have about whether an absentee ballot has been legally voted.”

One of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Burke), said that an extended period of accepting absentee ballots, like there was in 2020, leads to confusion and distrust among voters, something which this legislation is seeking to address.

According to the Honest Elections Project, 66% of voters support increasing protections on absentee voting, including a voter ID requirement to vote absentee, reported Election Transparency Initiative. 

National Review reminds that the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform concluded that “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud,” and that the widespread use of those types of ballots “increases the risks of fraud and of contested elections.”