Voting irregularities and voting rules seem to be a topic of conversation right now–even in states that are not necessarily in the news. North Carolina is one of those states.
On Friday, NewsBusters reported:
Democrats’ bid to skirt previous court decisions in order to allow people who have never lived in North Carolina (“never residents”) to continue voting in the state was slapped down by Superior Court Judge Hoyt Tessener in a ruling released this week.
A North Carolina law allowing “never residents” to cast ballots in the state for federal elections violates undisputed court rulings, Judge Tessener ruled in his decision.
“Never residents” are adults born outside the United States whose parents or guardians once lived in the state.
In March of this year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party filed a court challenge to the state law on the grounds that precedent already prohibited “never residents” from voting in the state and that North Carolina can’t legally carve out an exemption for federal elections.
Last year, the state’s Board of Elections issued guidance stating they people who never lived in North Carolina could vote for federal elections as if they were legal residents there.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), as an Intervenor-Defendant, joined with the North Carolina State Board of Elections to oppose the challenge to the law, calling it an effort to “disenfranchise” voters. The Democrats also argued that one element of the case should be transferred to a three-judge panel.
Judge Tessener rejected all of the Democrats’ claims, granting Republicans’ motion for summary judgement and noting that the issue had already been decided by previous court rulings:
In 2024, NC legislators passed a law shifting oversight of the State Board of Elections to the Office of the State Auditor. This has resulted in cleaning up the voter rolls and taking steps to insure election integrity. The Democrats opposed this shift because the State Auditor is a Republican with a reputation for cleaning up questionable practices in spending and other areas within the state. I suspect we will see similar lawsuits and court decisions are we head for the mid-term elections.