Democrats and Republicans reach agreement in NC voting lawsuit. No, not that one.
Good morning and welcome to Under the Dome. I’m Caitlyn Yaede.
Since 2023, North Carolina Republicans have been embroiled in a lawsuit over proposed changes to same-day voter registration. Now, they’ve struck a deal with national Democrats to end the litigation.
Kyle Ingram has the story:
AN END TO A NORTH CAROLINA VOTING LAWSUIT?
National Democrats and Republicans appear to have reached an agreement to resolve a longstanding lawsuit over North Carolina’s voting laws.
No, it’s not the dispute over the state Supreme Court race, which persists over five months after the election and still threatens to discard thousands of ballots. More on that below.
Rather, it’s a case dealing with changes to same-day registration, a process which allows voters to cast their ballot on the same day they register to vote. In 2023, North Carolina Republicans passed a law restricting this practice as part of a massive elections omnibus bill called Senate Bill 747.
National Democrats and advocacy groups sued over the bill, saying it could lead to votes being unfairly thrown out.
On Tuesday, parties in that lawsuit announced that they had reached an agreement with Republicans to terminate the litigation in exchange for changes to the law’s implementation that would give voters an opportunity to ensure their vote isn’t cancelled.
“Today’s agreement is a victory for North Carolina voters and for democracy,” Reyna Walters Morgan, a vice chair for the Democratic National Committee, said. “We should be empowering Americans to participate in our elections, not (making) it harder — but at every turn Republicans have tried to suppress the voices of voters … Democrats have been fighting back, and today’s victory is a powerful rejection of Republicans’ attacks on voting rights.”
The new law had said that voters who used same-day registration would be sent one notice to their listed address (previously, voters were sent two) confirming their registration. If that singular notice was returned as undeliverable, their registration would be cancelled and their vote would not be counted.
The bill did not provide any process for these voters to be notified or challenge the decision to cancel their vote in a hearing.
In January 2024, a federal judge blocked that change from taking effect, saying that voters would “face a non-trivial risk of being erroneously disenfranchised” if the address verification failed due to governmental errors.
He ordered the State Board of Elections to create a process for voters to fix any issues with their registration if their same-day registration notice was returned as undeliverable.
Tuesday’s agreement largely codifies the judge’s 2024 order and the board’s process for implementing it, with both parties agreeing that voters will be given a chance to remedy an address verification failure before their votes are cancelled.
A representative for the NC GOP did not provide a comment on Tuesday’s agreement.
Though all parties stated that they agree to the proposed resolution, a judge will still have to approve it.
Other portions of SB 747, which Democrats had sued over, would remain intact under the proposed consent agreement. Among them are a provision eliminating the three-day grace period for receiving absentee ballots and a section that empowers partisan poll observers to oversee voting.
— Kyle Ingram
Update on NC Supreme Court election
A federal appeals court decision Tuesday means that challenged voters in the 2024 N.C. Supreme Court election won’t need to validate their ballots — at least for now.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals temporarily blocked North Carolina election officials from beginning a massive ballot review period in Jefferson Griffin’s ongoing election challenge. This “cure” process would have required thousands of military and overseas voters to prove their eligibility or have their votes thrown out.
Griffin, a Republican judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, lost his race for the state Supreme Court by 734 votes to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs. For nearly six months, he has contested the results and attempted to discard over 65,000 ballots using untested legal theories.
A spokesperson for Riggs’ campaign said they are “gratified” about the decision. “We’re confident that federal law prohibits these votes from being thrown out, and we’re going to continue fighting to protect military and overseas voters,” said Dory MacMillan.
Here’s more on what happens now.
— Kyle Ingram
NEW AD TARGETS GRIFFIN’S CHALLENGE OF MILITARY BALLOTS
Meanwhile, a Republican-led voting group launched a new ad this past weekend targeting Griffin’s challenge of thousands of military votes.
“They defend our right to vote, but now they could have their own right to vote stripped away,” the ad, released by RightCount Action, says. “... Don’t let one defeated politician deny our heroes their right to vote.”
Part of Griffin’s case targets thousands of overseas military voters from heavily Democratic counties who he says did not provide photo ID with their absentee ballots. The bipartisan State Board of Elections approved an exemption to the ID requirement for these voters, but Griffin argues it violates the law.
The North Carolina Supreme Court agreed, ruling earlier this month that the challenged overseas voters would be given 30 days to provide an ID or risk having their vote thrown out.
RightCount’s ad, which is airing on television and digital, comes alongside a statement from former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who chairs the group’s North Carolina branch.
“I wanted Jefferson Griffin to win because his philosophy more aligns with me,” he said. “But in order to take the seat, you’ve got to earn the seat and win the seat. And in this case, he was defeated. I know how difficult it can be to lose a close election, but you abide by the rules. Especially when your efforts would result in silencing the voices of men and women in uniform.”
— Kyle Ingram
DUKE’S INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS CAUTIONED NOT TO LEAVE U.S.
Duke University told its international students and those with green cards not to leave the U.S., amid Trump administration immigration restrictions, Brian Gordon reports.
This warning, issued April 18, comes ahead of summer break, when many such students are expected to leave the country. Duke Visa Services cited a potential federal travel ban that would reportedly impact 43 countries, saying the ban could be imposed at any time.
The message also noted heightened barriers to reentry posed by federal immigration authorities, such as additional screenings and questioning.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20, announcing the “enhanced vetting” of U.S. visa holders. In the months since, student visas have been revoked across the country, including six international students at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University. At Duke, two such students and an alumnus also had their visas revoked.
More than 3,000 graduate students at Duke are international students, as well as hundreds of undergraduates.
WHAT ELSE WE’RE WORKING ON
Several Helene-stricken towns are still waiting for federal funds, seven months after the state’s most expensive natural disaster. Congress appropriated $110 billion across all states impacted by Hurricane Helene. But now, communities like Canton — which lost its firehouse to flooding — say they have yet to see any money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Smoky Mountain News first reported on the issue and found that only nine of the 23 municipalities investigated had received any federal dollars toward hurricane relief. The Charlotte Observer’s Briah Lumpkins has the full story.
WHAT ELSE WE’RE READING
More than 220 higher education leaders, including several from North Carolina, signed onto a letter condemning the Trump administration’s “political interference” and “overreach” on Tuesday. Distributed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the letter comes a day after Harvard University sued the Trump administration for freezing billions of dollars in higher education funding, The New York Times’ Stephanie Saul reports. Duke University President Vincent Price is among those who signed the letter.
Today’s newsletter was by Caitlyn Yaede and Kyle Ingram. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.
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This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Democrats and Republicans reach agreement in NC voting lawsuit. No, not that one.."
