With new federal money, NC elections officials prepare for surge of absentee voting
North Carolina’s top elections official said Friday that much of the federal stimulus money the state expects to receive for elections will go to local boards to offset cuts caused by the pandemic.
North Carolina is set to get $10.9 million for its elections from the $2.2 trillion bill that Congress passed last month.
“Our real goal is to try to push as much of that money as we can down to the counties,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, told the Observer. “We’re at a time when we cannot do more with less.”
With businesses closed and unemployment rising, the pandemic is expected to squeeze state and local revenues.
N.C. officials are planning for an election that will be one of most important in memory, and one of the most fraught.
Not only will millions of voters cast ballots for president and governor, but they’ll help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate and House and decide who controls the General Assembly. And they’ll do it in a public health environment no one can foresee. The coronavirus pandemic that has shut down much of the state could linger into fall.
“We’re preparing for the unexpected,” said Brinson Bell. “We’re in constant response mode right now, and we’re trying to make the best decisions we can with the information on hand.”
In addition to the new stimulus money, state election officials are in line for another $11.6 million in federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) money that President Donald Trump approved in December, mainly for election technology and security improvements. If the General Assembly approves the required state matches, the elections board would get $27 million.
Lawmakers are expected to consider those matches — which total about $4.5 million — when they return later this month.
“The (House) committees on COVID-19 are looking at all opportunities to draw down federal funds by providing a state match … and fortunately North Carolina has cash on hand and savings to meet many of those requirements,” Joseph Kyzer, a spokesman for House Speaker Tim Moore, said in an email.
Pat Ryan, a spokesman for Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, said state matches “are always part of the budget discussion.”
More absentee ballots
One change could involve absentee ballots.
Brinson Bell said she expects up to 40% of voters could ask for absentee ballots this fall. In a normal presidential election, it’s about 4%. To accommodate the extra ballots, she’s recommended several changes in the law. Among them:
▪ Make it easier to get absentee ballots. For example, a voter could request an absentee ballot by fax or email, or through a proposed online portal.
▪ Allow the state to pay for postage for returned absentee ballots. Officials say that would make it more likely for a voter to return their ballot and reduce the incentive for a voter to give their ballot to someone else.
▪ Reducing or eliminating the witness requirement for the certification on absentee return envelopes. Now a voter must have their absentee envelope signed by two witnesses or a notary.
That’s not popular with some lawmakers, who remember the 2018 absentee ballot scandal in the 9th Congressional District, which so marred the election that officials had to order a new one.
“I understand that some progressive, liberal Democratic groups would like to roll that back and put us back to where we were,” Berger told Charlotte’s WFAE this week. “I’m afraid that’s where the elections director would take us with her proposals.”
Brinson Bell said after the 2018 absentee ballot scandal the legislature put into place laws to help ensure that doesn’t happen. Elections officials are trying to balance security with making it easy for people to vote.
“We’ve strengthened several laws from being misdemeanors to felonies,” she said. “We are appreciative the legislature took those actions and put more teeth into our laws.”
Elections officials say they’re trying to balance ballot security with making it easy for people to vote.
‘A new day’
If 40% of North Carolina voters cast mail-in absentee ballots, that could mean a surge of nearly 2 million absentee ballots. In Mecklenburg County, it could mean as many as 200,000 — more than ever.
“What it basically does is it has the ability to change the way we’ve done our business for the last 20 years,” said county elections director Michael Dickerson.
If virus-fighting guidelines are still in force come fall, officials across the state will take new steps to protect poll workers and voters.
Brinson Bell said those could include enacting procedures for social distancing, having hand-washing and other sanitation efforts and even redesigning polling places.
“It’s a new day,” she said. “But it’s not about how we stop an election, it’s how we proceed so voters can exercise their fundamental right to vote.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 4:09 PM.
