HB 304: Election Day Integrity Act will protect voter freedom and voting security. Civitas Action believes the provisions in this legislation properly balance necessary security for our elections while ensuring legal voter participation. 

The reliance on postmarks under current law is problematic for several reasons. There are problems with ballots returned without a postmark or with an illegible postmark. County election boards have to debate whether ballots were “in the mail stream” and should be counted or not. In at least one instance, the Wake County Board of Elections accepted ballots postmarked after election day because a postal worker told them that he or she had stamped the wrong date on absentee ballot container envelopes.

Even with a court-ordered deadline of 9 days after election day in the 2020 general election, 813 ballots were not accepted in the 2020 general election due to their being “returned after deadline.” Putting a ballot in the mailbox on election day under current law is no guarantee that a voter’s ballot will be counted, and it is a disservice to voters to tell them otherwise.

North Carolina should rejoin the majority of states that have an election-day deadline for absentee ballots.

Civitas Action believes the vote for freedom is YES on HB304!

Civitas Action will grade the second reading floor vote in the House for HB304. 

Civitas Action is a 501(c)(4) non-profit that educates and informs North Carolinians on policy issues and the actions of their elected officials.