When I was a young child, for a short while I lived in Jersey City. I didn’t understand at the time when my parents made jokes about people sometime around October every election year going through the cemeteries with pens and clipboards to register the people there to vote. I have a better understanding of that now.

On Tuesday, The Daily Signal reported:

North Carolina’s Democrat Gov. Josh Stein vetoed an election law reform that requires the state to cross-check voter registration rolls with death records.

The governor vetoed House Bill 958 in the battleground state, which would also reduce the number of early voting days in certain elections and grant the state auditor new powers to review election results.

Republican lawmakers have enough votes to override Stein’s veto, according to WSOC Charlotte. The bill passed along party lines.

Critics of the legislation contend it would hinder transparency for campaign finance and potentially lead to the purging of eligible voters from voter rolls. The bill allows candidates to disclose fewer donations on contributions, loans, and expenditures, increasing the required amount for reporting from $1,000 to $3,000. 

“Rather than make your life better, they want to make it harder for you to hold them accountable for their failures,” Stein said Monday of the bill’s GOP supporters, WRALRaleigh reported.

“They would rather change the rules of our elections to secure advantage than to do the work that the voters expect, which is to improve people’s lives,” the governor added.

Republicans have argued that the governor is making elections less secure with his veto, WRAL reported.

So changing the rules of our elections so that dead people don’t vote doesn’t improve people’s lives? How does dead people voting help us in any way?

The article concludes:

Under the legislation, the state and county boards of elections would be required to remove ineligible voters from voter rolls and update addresses of eligible voters. They can enter into data-sharing agreements with other states to cross-check voting records. 

The bill would also allow “any registered voter” to challenge the legitimacy of a vote or a voter’s registration.  A decision made by the county board may be appealed to the Superior Court in the county where the challenge originated. 

Early votes cast in-person must be counted at the time polls close on Election Day. The bill stipulates that if a voter lacks photo ID, he or she will get a provisional ballot. 

The bill further bans foreign nationals from donating to a referendum campaign. Numerous other states have banned direct and indirect foreign contributions on ballot measures in recent years. 

The only reason to leave dead people on the voter rolls is so you can cheat!