Senate Bill 326, Election Day Integrity Act, and Senate Bill 725, Prohibit Private Money in Elections Administration, improve several key provisions of the state’s election laws. These bills defend freedom by making elections more secure. Civitas Action believes the votes for freedom are YES on SB326 and SB725.
Like the original version of the bill, the modified SB326 changes the date by which the elections administrators can accept mail-in absentee ballots to 5PM on Election Day. Practically, this removes the arbitrary 3-day deadline that currently exists and prevents confusion over post mark deadlines. This also prevents the perception of misconduct that can emerge if election results aren’t finalized in a timely manner by closing a loophole for potential fraud.
The provisions of SB725 were previously in SB326 but are now progressing as a stand-alone bill. The bill prohibits county and state boards of elections, as well as county commissioners, from accepting money from private entities for the purpose of elections administration. This prevents outside groups from influencing election outcomes through targeted aid to strategic counties or cities.
These measures improve the integrity of the state’s elections, and – just as importantly – increase public confidence in the elections process.
Election integrity is the foundation of public confidence in our system of government, and these bills take reasonable steps to improve election integrity. For that reason, Civitas Action believes the votes to defend freedom are YES on SB326 and SB725.
Civitas Action will grade the Second Reading floor vote on this legislation in the House or Senate.
The Civitas Action Freedom Rankings can be found at www.civitasaction.org. For questions or comments, please contact Leah Byers at [email protected]
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.