WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Two contested rules for counting mail-in ballots will stay in force for the November election after a federal judge on Monday turned down a request to put them on hold.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder denied a preliminary injunction in a 72-page order, issued five days after he heard arguments in Winston-Salem.
The rules come from guidance the State Board of Elections adopted on Sept. 4, the same day North Carolina started mailing absentee ballots. One tells county boards to reject a ballot package when the envelope requirements are not met. The other allows election officials to verify voter signatures.
Three advocacy groups sued on Sept. 22: Down Home North Carolina, North Carolina Asian Americans Together and the retiree organization known as the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans. They named the state board along with the Durham and Guilford county election boards, and argued the policies would toss out thousands of valid ballots over technical errors.
In his order, Schroeder leaned on long-standing federal precedent that judges should not rewrite election rules once voting is close or already happening, noting that absentee and early voting had begun. He also found the groups waited 18 days after the guidance came out to sue, and sought the injunction only the day before counties started counting absentee ballots.
The judge added that the groups had not shown they were likely to win on the merits, and that the guidance gives voters notice and a chance to fix a problem. A voter whose ballot is flagged is told about it and can send a new absentee ballot or vote in person instead.
The Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party joined the case after an Oct. 9 order let them intervene. The state elections board has had a 3-2 Republican majority since the spring of 2025.
Turnout is running high in the meantime. About 486,000 North Carolinians voted in person during the first days of early voting, roughly 50% more than at the same point of the last midterm cycle. Registered Democrats have cast nearly half of all ballots so far, absentee votes included, with unaffiliated voters near 35% and Republicans at 20%. Early voting at in-person sites runs until Oct. 31.
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Filed under: Raleigh NC Politics News
